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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


-*»=S  I .      If. 


/// 


THE  HANDWRITING 

ON  THE  WALL 


•  •  •  vJr*  ••• 


Revolution  in  1907. 


Being  a  Revelation  of  Startling  Facts  Concerning  the 

TefTibk  Influences  That  Are  at  Work  Destroying 

the  Nation,  With  the  Sober  Conclusions  Drawn 

From  These  Facts  by  An  Ex=Congressman, 

a  A\an  Who    Loves  His  Country  and 
lis  Idlou   Man,  and  Would  Give 

Warning    of     Perils     That 

Threaten  the  Very  Life 

Of      Our      Republic. 


SSS6S 


Published  by 
The    P,    1-1.     Roberts    Publishing    Co., 

ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


COPYRIGHT,  1903. 
F.  A.  Schlueter. 


P.  H.  Roberts  Publishing  Co., 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS. 


TAGE 


Announcement m 

P  raonal  Experience  of  an  Ex-Congress- 
man    -j  ■. 

[L— Trusts 19 

HI.— Th,-  Railroads  and  the  Trusts 3G 

I  [V. — Legislation 59 

•rruption,  Bribery  and  Perjury 82 

^L— T  Unions 106 

VII.— Strikes 127 

'  VI II.—  Ma.  Inn. -rv 147 

I  LX. — Child  Labor 157 

S. — The  Unemployed 178 

\l—  The  Aristocracy 196 

KII.—  I  220 

I    apter  XII L— Female  Labor 239 

Chi  xiv.— Th  ce  Struggle 249 

Chi  £V.— Education 259 

el,  \  vj._Thr  Church 274 

Chi  KVH.— The  Farmer 284 

JCVIII. — Plutocracy 304 

I  MX.— Panics / 331 

XX.— l-'inis 345 

(5) 


1524877 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PA     I 

Frontispiece 

The  Birthday  Party 

Child  Labor 

The  Forerunner  of  the  Army  of  the  ReTolutioD I 

The  Aristocracy 

Newport  Society 

A  Child  Beggar 

Colleges  Endowed  by  Trusts 

The  Farmer  Fleeced  by  the  Trusts 

Plutocracy  Enthroned 

Why  Not  Have  Postal  Savings  Bank- 

Staving  Off  a  Financial  Panic 

An  Industrial  Panic 


AUTHOR'S  ANNOUNCEMENT. 


and  prophecies  have  failed,  that 
"®  ,,(--'-  this  book  a  fraud  or 
» inspirati  To  which  I  prompt- 

ly 

1    Wm  there  will  be  a  revolution  in  the  year  1907,  just 

ran  will  rise  and  sel  ai  that  time. 
D  »f  prophecy  are  not  required  in  either  ease. 

B  >Hshed  scientifically.    If  you  play 

m  can  prophecy  an  i 
A<  mining  a  consumptive  can  tell  with- 

ul.ai  is  i„  st(  ttient.    Were 

ift  with  the  current  above  Niagara  Falls,  the 
asily  be  predicted, 
the  political,  social  and  industrial  signs  of 
ilution  arc  plain  and  easily  read;  and 
having  brought  them  before  you,  ask  you  to  read,  think 
and  diagnose  for  yourself. 

anger  ahead.    So  do  many,  many  others.    I  may 
not  be  heard  duty  compels  me  to  raise  my  voice  in 

(7) 


protest.   It  may  be  too  late,  (and  I  am  < 

the  case),  yet  I  could  not  refrain  if  I  would.     I 
I  must  put  forth  my  strongesl  effort  to  be  ! 

For  that  large  number  of  earnesl  r 
the  noblest  work  man  can  engage  in,  em 

face  of  adversity  to  uplift  mankind.  I   predi 
their  attempt  to  prevent  the  revolution.     I 
their  efforts  are  wasted  or  lost     far  from 
seed  they  sow  today  will  take  root   and   bri 
abundant  harvest.    But  not  until  after  t!  • 

Just  a  word  to  tho<e  who  at  first  might  think   ' 
anarchist,  working  and  wishing  for  the  revoli 

Do  you  blame  the  watchman  for  sounding  tl 
the  man  who  cries  "Fire!"  when  the  warn' 
those  of  truth  ? 

Should  the  engineer  blame  tin'  flagman  w!  -hat 

danger  is  ahead?     Or  should  the  physician   ! 
Avhen  he  pronounces  a  malady  fatal?     All 
friends,  not  enemies.    They  have  not  caused  ,; 
They  raise  their  hands  and  voices  to  aid  in  1. 
of  escape. 

I  see  grave  danger  ahead.    1  cannot  endun  :f- 

ference  around  me.    I  love  my  country  an.! 
pie.    From  the  housetops  I  shall  proclaim  the  truth.     If 
there  is  any  way  to  make  people  think  before 
late,  I  shall  not  leave  a  stone  unturned  in  endeavoring 
find  it. 

Some  will  be  made  to  think.    Some  cannot.    Some  will 
be  convinced  by  reason;  others  will  only  scoff.    But  with 

(8) 


si  hope  that  the  majority  will  see  and  appreciate 

the  jxt'iI  to  our  government  today,  this  book  is  sent  forth. 

intiate  my  position  1  present  the  opinions  of 

jurists,  lawyers  and  business  men.     I  quote  the 

«li  i  thinkers,  the  besi  writers,  and  some  of  the  most 

in  the  country.    This  vast  array  of 
infinite  weight  to  my  prediction.     Lest 
:ht  think  this  book  is  the  idea  of  one  man,  the 
ptf  ne  mind.  1  Bay  that  ]  have  done  nothing  but 

place  the  t ruth  and  !  ide  by  side,  and  just  as  they 

that  ii  n  fail  to  discern  clearly  the 

the  time.    All  that  is  I,  all  thai  is  invoked,  is 

and  consideration  of  these  the  most  seri- 
al important  questions  of  the  day.    If  this  end  be 
then  i-  the  aim  of  this  hook  achieved,  and  the 
labor  and  hopes  of  the  author  amply  rewarded. 

J.  C.  COOPER. 


(9) 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  Personal  E:\perience  of  An  Ex- 
Congressman. 


tarkable  experience  of  an  ex- 

.    Though  raised 

anati  and  there  engaged  in 

hull  I  followed  continuously  nn- 

tne  "u(  of  bnsini 

!  with  :  up-to-date  house,  very 

ting  and  precise,  appreoia- 

• 

m  nuiii  :  until  the  death  of  the 

mior  members  of  the  firm 

i  from  a  firm  in  the 

position.    1  accepted,  and  was 

.    In  five  I  was  offered  an 

I  ]:.!•!  a  little  money,  and  bor- 

jjhly  understood  and  liked  the 

y  inter  !i>e<iuentlv  found  it 


a     EXPERIENCE  OF  AN  EX-CONGHESSMA 
a  pleasure  to  work,  and  work  very  tart.    - 


me. 


^Later  my  employer  sold  me  a  half 

growing  old  and  wished  to  throw  m< 

me.    In  1883  he  wished  to  retire  altogetl 

the  plant. 
"This  in  brief  is  how  I  gol  started. 
"Being  only  thirty-sis  years  old  and  in 

struck  out  with  renewed  vigor.     I  made 

ments,  and  augmented  the  business  in  m 

efforts  were  rewarded.     Busim 

had  quite  a  sum  in  bank,  besidi  rable  n 

I  had  married  happily  and  was  blessed  wil 

Altogether  I  believed  fortune  had  come  ' 
"Had  anyone  told  me  thai  disasl 

take  me,  and  financial   disaster  at    that.    I 

laughed  at  the  suggestion.     In  D.0  m 

such  a  thing  might  happen.    Even  wen    1 

tire  business  I  still  had  my  monej   and    r<  al   •  I 

thought  prosperity  was  mine  for  the  balai 

In  fact,  I  was  sure  of  it. 

"But  how  little  we  know.    I  wa-  sup]. 
well  educated,  but  now  I  realized  that  thei 
things  for  me  to  learn.    I  was  rather  narrow.  I 
concentration  of  mind  and  attention  to  buf  I 

had  no  deep  knowledge  of  the  science  or  .  I  of 

modern  business.     1  had  only  a  vague  idea  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  industry.     The  trust  problem  I  thought  of  in- 


EXPERIENCE  OF  AN  EX-CONGRESSMAN.      13 

differently,  for  it  loomed  up  on  my  horizon  as  a 

i«l  no  than  a  man's  hand.     Of  social,  industrial 

and  political  my  I  knew  nothing  whatever;  and  to 

■  it  all.  I  was  unaware  of  my  deficiencies;  but  felt  con- 
in  my  rather  darkened  ways. 
r,  'in.  isly  you   may  lie  like  I  was — con- 

>und  you  Maud  upon,  sure  in  your  opinions 
"  t"  any  who  may  timidly  suggest 
:  have  never  heard  of.    Better  investigate  or 
will  he  rudely  jarred.     On  the 
her  hand,  perha]  ived  your  awakening; 

trough  a  glass  darkly. 
radual.    A  trust  began  its  tactics  on 
me,  which    I   hardly  noticed  at   lir-t.     If  it  cut  prices  I 
I  did  i;  'lien  how  it  could  hurt  me.    I 

I 

nie  when  freight  rates  took  a 
jump  up*  !  more  than  trebled.    I  thought 

.  when  to  my  dismay  1  found  the  trust 

red  theirs.    This  was  dumbfounding.    J  was  sure 

tin  ml  concluded  to  let  them  do  so, 

•   up  my  pric<  s.     Th'    re8ul1  was  that  orders 

e  in  and  I  had  to  (lose  up  temporarily. 

.  I  thought  I  could  hold  out 

•ru«t  who  were  selling  at  a  cut  rate. 

\  •  ■         I  and  then  worried.    After  a  time 

tl).  and  1  determined  to  take  a  bold 

i  their  prices  and  once  more  orders  flowed  in. 


14     EXPEKIENCE  OF  AN  EX-CONGRESSMAN. 

"But  I  was  losing  money  heavily.     One  d 
of  the  trust  called  at  my  office.     He  Baid  he 
torney  employed  merely  to  come  and  Bee  me.     H 
very  unassuming  and  pleasant.     He  stated  hia  mia 
The  trust  would  buy  me  out.    I  indignantly  i 
ing  I  was  an  American  citizen  with  well-defined   I 
and  could  not  be  driven  from  the  field  lib 
the  offer  would  remain  open  for  forty-eight  hou 
that  time  I  accepted  I  might  drop  him  a  line.     Ai 
picked  up  his  hat  to  leave,  he  said  if  I  were  wise  I  would 
accept.    It  made  no  difference  to  him  either 
had  seen  a  number  of  men  completely  mined  by  fol 
the  course  I  intended  to  pursue;  that  I  waa  again 
less  proposition,  and  would  surely  regrel  it  if  I  fa 
follow  his  advice. 

"I  told  him  that  if  I  were  losing  money  on  account 
the  present  freight  rates,  the  trust  was  infinii 

more,  and  that  rates  would  probably  be  mncl 
before  long.    He  looked  at  me  a  few  moments  and  t! 
said  only  this,  'I  see  that  you  really  haven't  the  least 
what  you  are  talking  about.'    He  was  right    [had 
heard  of  the  rebate  system.    But  I  anticipa* 

"Of  course  I  did  not  write  him.    But  his  remark 
manner  impressed  me.    I  began  to  wonder  if  th 
really  had  any  method  of  doing  business  that  I  might  not 
avail  myself  of.    I  studied  and  worried,  and  worried  and 
studied.    After  several  months  I  thought  perhap  uld 

be  a  good  idea  to  write  to  some  of  my  fellow  comp 


EXPERIENCE  OF  A\  EX-CONGRESSMAN.     15 

how  they  were  faring,  offer  to  confer  with  them  and 
a-k  whal  they  thought  would  be  the  outcome;  and  finally 
find  if  they  were  aware  of  any  methods  or  means  possessed 
by  the  trusts  which  we  lacked. 

"I  did  bo.  In  answer  to  my  letters  I  received  several 
replies.    <  me  man  evidently  did  not  wish  to  he  frank.    He 

d  he  did  not  care  if  the  trusts  were  ten  times  as  strong, 
they  could  not  hurt  him.  This  was  a  free  country  and  he 
proposed  to  fight  them  back. 

"The  second  writer  admitted  the  trust  had  played  sad 
havoc  with  him.    He  did  not  know  what  to  do.    He  would 
glad  to  hear  from  me  again,  and  would  himself  write 
me  very  shortly. 

"The  third  letter  said  the  writer  was  going  to  Cincin- 
nati in  aboul  a  week  and  would  be  pleased  to  stop  on  the 
wa;.  1  wrote  and  urged  him  to  do  so. 

"In  the  meantime  the  trust  had  again  reduced  pri 
Freight  rati  a  remained  the  same.    For  me  to  meet  their 
prices  meant  ill.    I  did  not  want  to  give  in, 

neither  did  I  want  to  lose  everything.     But  I  was  so  en- 

jed  I  met  the  cut. 

"The  prices  were  now  about  the  same  as  before  the 
:.  1  Btate  this  that  the  public  may  know  that 
the  trust  was  not  a  public  benefactor.  But  with  freight 
rates  three  times  as  high  as  formerly,  it  was  a  terribly 
losing  _'.une  for  me.  I  had  written  and  gone  to  the  rail- 
id  people  in  protest  so  often  that  I  was  tired.  Further- 
more, it  did  no  good.    The  officials  gave  no  reason  why 


16     EXPERIENCE  OF  AN  BX-CONGB 

the  advance  should  be  made.    Th 

tions  from  their  superiors.    Meanwhile  I  * 

heavily. 

"My  fellow  victim  and  competil  pped  h 

one  morning  as  he  was  bound  for  Cincil 

him  warmly  and  took  him  to  my  | 
my  first  questions  was  this:    Bow  can  the  tr 
when  freight  rates  are  bo  high?    And  how  1 
keep  on  losing  money  this  way  ? 

"  'Losing  money!'  he  exclaimed;  "I-  it  : 
lieve  the  trust  is  losing  money?'    And  hi 
few  moments. 

"'Why,  they  are  coining  moi 
rich,'  he  said.    'Don't  you  know  that  the  tr 
controls  the  railroads?5  was  his  nexl  quest 
money  paid  for  freight  charges 
monthly  ?' 

"He  said,  'I  thought  everybody  knew  thai      I' 
"the  rebate  system."    You  are  a  hundred 
times.    Have  you  never  heard  how  the 
worked  ?' 

"I  frankly  confessed  I  hadn't.     I  was  1  and 

sickened.     Cold  drops  of  perspiration  started  from 
forehead.    Here  I  had  thought  the  trust  wa?  paying  the 
same  freight  rates  (which  in  my  bus: 
portant  item)  that  I  was ;  when  lo,  and  behold ;  th- 
only  paying  one-third  the  amount;  peril.  .     I 


EXPERIENCE  OF  AN  EX-CONGRESSMAN.      17 

had  thought  they  were  losing  money  as  fast  as  myself, 
when  in  fact  they  irere  coining  it. 

"Reader,  perhaps  this  is  not  new  to  you.   If  so,  I  trust  it 
did  di  i  as  much  to  find  it  out  as  it  did  me.    If 

not  heard  of  it  before,  I'm  glad  to  toll  you  about 
i        one  of  the  strongholds  of  the  trusts.    The  rail- 
ormously  at  the  instigation  of  the 
trusts  and  thru  gi?e  it   back  to  the  trusts  in  rebates;  all 
be  the  trusts  and  railroads  are  owned  and  controlled 

apitalists. 
"I  rent  to  law.     I  brought  suit  against  both  the  rail- 
Is  and  the  trust 
■'!'•  long  another  agent  of  the  trust  came  to  see 

me  and  offered  to  buy  me  out  again.    This  oifer  was  about 
half  of  the  first    1  refused  again. 

■■J  lost  both  Buits  and  appealed  to  a  higher  court.    It 

inld  be  tiresome  to  tell  how  the  cases  were  continued 

and  p  ed  and  maneuvered  in  every  way  imaginable 

and   ei  This   was   kept   up  a  long 

time.     My  lawyer-'  fee-  were  very  high.    To  make  a  long 

:t.  1  was  finally  and  completely  beaten  at  every 

it. 

ruined.    All  my  money  and  real  estate 
_:one,  and  1  gave  up  the  fight.    I  felt  I  could  do  no 
re. 

"But  1  took  up  the  battle  again  in  another  and  indirect 
way.     From   the  beginning  my  case  had  attracted  con- 
rable   attention.     The   newspapers   had   taken  it   up 
(2) 


18     EXPEBIENCE  OF  AN  K 

and  I  received  many  Lettei 
ment  and  condolence.    In  188 
run  for  Congress.     I  al  first  , 
statesman  or  lawyer,  only  a  pi. 
insisted  f  was  also  an  enem 

they  were  looking  for. 

«My  whole  attitude  changed.    I 
might  go  to  Cong 
against  the  cut-throat  po 

was  too  late  f  or  me  to  secur. 
justice  being  done  to  other  intcn. 

had  many  friends  assisj    mi    • 
finally  won  the  election. 

"My  experience  in  Congn 
the  investigation  which   1  have  kepi   u  ' 

learned  rapidlv  because  my  heart 
things  that  once  appeared  -lull  and  i 
were  of  vital  important-, 
failed  to  attract  my  attention  I 
and  revelations  that  every  man  a 
should  try  to  understand  and  i- 

"But  this  will  never  be  done.     I 
America,  though  eonscion-  that   - 
pening  and  that  they  ought  to  I 
fail  to  think,  agree,  act  or  vote  harmoniou 
good.    They  always  seem  to  be  divid 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stall 


CHAPTER  II. 

TRUSTS. 


'  orruption  and  Oppres- 

al  I'm  .,.,1. 

I   lost   do  time,  but 

the  trust  question;  (here  was 

u  that.    I  rrail.  investigated  and 

posi  myself  on  the 

I       -  "D  hand.    The  inci- 

through  which  T  passed  were 

!'■  .:*  ite  to  the  main 

_rh  to  me  they  were  inter- 

a  and  investigation, 
!   soon  saw  and 

le  workings  of  these  institu- 

dreams  of.     And  I 

fit  of  my  discoveries.    But 

rrow  and  mly  my  own 

all  I   jay  by  public  and 

magazines  and 

(19) 


20  TBI 

newspapers,  together  with  the  opinio 
men,  lawyers,  business  men,  tc. 

"Before  touching  on  the  wri 
brief  history  and  analysis  of  tl 

"The  close  of  the  Civil  War  found  tl 
on  great  industrial  and  comrrn 
business  opportunities  presented  th< 
mand  for  goods  and  labor  was  unlin 
horrible  waste  of  war. 

"At  this  time  the  first  large  and 
projected,  namely,  the  Standard  Oil  Trn-t.  (I 
of  many  more,  rich  and  powerful,  which 
its  footsteps.    With  almost  un; 
have  sprung  up,  flourished  and  g\ 
proportions  that  our  entire  industrial 
changed. 

"The  trust  is  a  perfect  organization,  with 
tern,  that  operates  with  the  least  frictii 
cause  it  makes  use  of  a  fundament* 
law  is  as  follows:    The  larger  the  - 
distribution  the  less  the  friction  and  i 

"This  single  economic  advant 
thing  that  gives  them  the  least  claim  I 
for  this  it  is  possible  they  would  h. 
existence  long  before  tin,.    Their  nu: 
gross  injustice  would  have  more  than  warrant 

"Volumes  might  be  written  in  regard  ; 
of  procedure,  showing  that  almost  every  crim 


TRUSTS.  21 


v    ! 


mmitted  by  them  to  furthe?   Iheir 

•  deal  might  be  added  about  the  policy 

try,  by  absorbing  and  kill- 
g  all  competj  and  ruining  thousands  of  business 

1  a  crime),  besides  throwing 
•:'  work.  But  in  this  short 
here  and  there. 

"With  trusts  the  day  of  small  enter- 

prises '    .mil  and  elaborate  schemes  prevail. 

•  r  tlu-  land,  hand  in  hand,  we  find  the 
tn.  in-'  and  effect  of  each 

r  the  enemy  of  the  people,  doing  the 
i  privileged  claai — the  plutocracy. 

••  I  -a  t  •  r  w<   fin  !.  thi   •:  mbining  until  the  prospect 

f  in  tl  future  forty  or  fifty  trust.-  will  eon- 

intry.    Can  any  one  deny 

1th  and  power  of  the 
irter  permits  them  to  own  and 

ad  rolling  mills,  different  lines  of 

ind  all  kinds  of  shops  and 

duel    is   manufactured. 

them  the  privilege  of  buying  and 

ind,   miii'  .1.   iron  and  all  kinds  of 

mi]  thai  grow  on  the  land;  to 

and  absolutely  anything 
anufactured.     They  have  absolutely  the 


22  Tl; 

right  to  buy,  sell  or  manufactui 
the  railroad-.  ships,  ba  i 

"What  will  be  the  resull 
become  of  the  poor  competitor 
railroads  and  bargi 

"Mr.  Schwab,  the  Presided  ol  tl 
returning  from  abroad  said :      l 
thusiasm  unbounded :  we  arc  n 
to  demonstrate  thai  thi 
bination,  the  greater  the  j 
consequently  the  r  the  p   - 

tion  of  cost.    With  these  obj<  i 
our  great  plants  equipped  and  mai 
no  care  or  proper  expense  mu- 
plants  modern  and  at    the 
enterprise  can  reach.' 

"It  is  true  that  the  Steel  're- 
production and  distribution  is  ; 
attempted,  but  it  is  untrue  when  Mr.  S 
be  operated  for  the  public  good. 

uThey  are  organized  only  for  their 
and  even  to  rob  and  defraud  ffa 
stop  at  nothing.    All  sorts  of  evils  ha, 
by  them;  but  more  about   this  later. 
might  be  made  a  blessing,  and  m 
very  possible.     That  they  are  do    _ 
Ws  to  be  false;  and  all  the  effort. 
Trust  Barons  fail  to  convince  an  arom 


TRUS  03 

"A  -        Trust,  there  are  many  others  that 

it  in  tl.  urice  into  many  avenues  of  trade  and 

:  'um.jiM  completed, threatens  to 
.m  and  lake  Bteamer  lines,  barge 
ompani 
"I.  iolidation  of  the  Oil,  Coal  and 

1  Don  combine,  and 

midable  of  these  organizations  is 
t,  which  began  operations  when  the 
i  on  a  boom. 

:   ill.'  well-,  Lta  production 
being  in  the  trans- 
saw  their  opportunity  and 
<  >:l  Trust.    1 1  .-ill  (he  road? 

e  it   precedence  over  all 
ighl  rates  were  raised 
Standard  Oil  Co.  paid  the 
them  in  the  form  of  rebal 
hed,  l»nt  their  competitors  were 
all  ie  by  one.    No  one 

wa  -!i  and  cruel  avarice;  and  thou- 

Bul  they  willed  to  reign 
ind  woe  to  any  who  dared  op- 

• 

Who  fought  them 


u  Tl:l  8TS 

to  the  bitter  end.    One  «a-  a  Mr.  B 
falo,  N.  Y.    Once  the  Standard  Oil  Ti 
blow  up  Mr.  Mathews'  refinery.    Th 
and  several  hundred  workmen  bai 
lives.    But  at  the  1  rial,  though  thi   - 
convicted  of  the  crime,  thej  only  fin 

I  afterwards  met  Mr.  Mathews,    wh< 
whole  thing.     Beside.-,  the  courl 
open  to  everybody's  inspection.    ( I 
account  of  this  incidenl  and  . 
Standard  Oil  Trust.  Lloyd*-   Wealtli    ' 

monwealth.) 

"Another  dastardly  p  work  by  thi 

at  Fostoria,  iO.,  on  a  quirt  Sunday  ii 
they  tore  up  the  pipes  of  a  competing 
course  nothing  could  be  done 
the  Sabbath  no  injunction  could  be  Becui 

At  Beaumont,  Texas,  the  gri 
they  are  making  the  most  Btrenuo 
oil  wells  by  blocking  transportation, 
facilities  there  already  in  existence  ai 
leased  as  fast  as  possible,  and   everyth 
can  do  is  being  done  to  prevent  the  build 

"Some  of  the  well  owners  have  built  tank 
own.    But  the  railroads,  upon  getting  hoi 
switched,  sidetracked  and  sent  them  away  witho  .  .  rn- 

mg  them,  (claiming  the  law  permits  !U]  in  . 

throwing  obstacles  in  the  path  of  the 


TRUSTS.  25 

All  at   tlu-  instigation  of  the  Standard  Oil 

Trn 

:   the  well  owners  wen!  to  law  and  demanded 

ih.it  .  an  be  -< hi  them.    The  law  .-ays  that  railroads  must 

furnish  <ar-  and  transportation  to  the  public  without 

partiality.     Upon  this  the  railroad-  did  send  some  cars. 

t  furniture  cars  up  to  the  oil  wells  instead  of 

The  well  owners  were  quick  witted.    Immedi- 

pump  oil  into  the  furniture  cars.    The 

pulled  the  cars  out  again,  upon  which  the 

ht  two  damage  suits,  one  for  sending 

at  did  not  hold  oil,  and  the  other  for  pulling 

in. 

•  T    .     •  ng  od  in  Texas.     At  present  not 

mi;  rd  about  it.    Everybody  has  had  the  oil  fever. 

11  '<  it  -aid.  There's  lots  of  oil,  but 

iwn  there.    Ifa  not  a  question  of  oil;  it's 

t*  transportation.3    Don't  you  think  it  is  no 

»il  or  tars,  but  rather  a  question  of 

>il  Trusl  ?     1  do.    I  think  it  has  become 

American  Liberty,  and  that  this  prized 

ii   danger  unless   the  people  are  stirred 

!ii  their  apathy. 

■•A  trusi  i-  one  existing  in  St.  Louis,  known 

Trai  nized  by  combining  all  the  street 

litalized  at  $90,000,000,  which  formerly 

the  law  of  Missouri   would  not  permit.     But  the 

Mure  wa-  bribed  and  the  law  changed.    As  the 


26  Tl: 

State  Legislature  and  G 

and  the  latter  signed  the  bill, 

crats  and  Republicans  alike  yield  to  th 

fluence  of  the  trusts. 

"They  then  bribed  both  the  I 
gates  in  St.  Louis  to  pass  the  mi 
count  of  which  is  given  in 

"After  securing  the  pass 
city  and  public  completely  al  theii 
them  to  all  manner  of  indignities.     1 
enough  cars,  and  night  and  mornii 

the  passengers  like  bo  man;  I 

the  time  the  cars  were  ii"i  heate*  ran 

at  a  terrific  rate  of  speed,  and   the   n  i 

killed  and  injured  was  appal  li: 

"The  public  protested  in  vain.     T 
denounced  the  wholesale  murder,  but 
day  added  to  the  list,  until  it  wa- 
a  paper  without  being  shocked  bj  I 
of  school  children,  men  and  women  I 
or  killed  by  these  modern  engii 
one  of  the  daily  papers,  (th< 
ther  illustrate  the  point : 

ACCIDENTS  THAT  HORRIFY. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Post-Dispateh  : 

Your  paper  is  well  known  as  a  wide-ai 

sive  journal  and  generally  leads  in  ai: 
teresting  to  the  public.    1  would  thi 


THUS  27 

you  h.  landing  column  daily — headed,  say,  "Transit 

* — under  which  will  be  recorded  the  daily 

d   the  various  trolley  lines.     Many 

them  i  harrowing  that   sensitive  readers,  when 

itly  come  across  them  and  commence  their 

.1  turn  from  them  with  horror.    If  all  were  grouped 

an   index  for  their  non- 
They  would  very  properly  head 

G. 

-  tin-  long  and  bloody  street  car 

nteiders  received  incorrect 

S  .  Louisiana     know    the     truth. 

or  this  murderoui 

:id  of  law  bi  i"  blame  may  easily  be  de- 

.  mil  no  worse  than  the 

hund:  blood-sucking  vampire-  that  infest  the 

Bui  quickly  because  raised 

!  quickly  upon  an  indignant  public. 

bad.  but  goes  almost  un- 

nlv  indirectly  upon  the  people. 

the  audacity  to  ask  the  govern- 

vill  probably  get,  does  not 

for  their  money. 

rkhurst  paid  to  the  Coal  Trust 

following  word-: 

mpanii  ombineB  or  coal  trusts 

[raining  off  into  their  own 


28  TR1  STS. 

treasury  as  much  of  the  poor  man' 
dare,  to  the  impoverishment  of  the  po 

of  their  comfort  and  to  the  sapping 
health  and  life,  then  such  compao 
demon  of  theft  and  murder.  Ami  this  is  no  in 
to  dealers  in  coal  than  to  the  dealers  in 
modity.' 

"While  Rev.  Dr.  Parkhurst  was  denoun 
'possessed  by  the  demon  of  tin-It   and  mui 
New  York  preacher,  Rev.   Dr.   Heber  N 
pews  and  a  millionaire  Hock,  praised  the  h 
sary  and  beneficent  part  of  our  advani 

"The  'Appeal  to  Reason"  says: 

"'The  official  statement  of  the  St 
its  profits  are  $10,000,000  a  month,  jojt 
What  the  infant  will  do  when  it  I 
conjectured.    Xow  this  is  bad  enough  for  th 
it  is  nothing  to  what  it  will  mean  in  a  few 
vast  sum  of  ready  cash  must  find  investments.    '1 
will  absorb  many  other  industri 

"'The  Steel  Trust  has  got  po  ,  of  all  the  nick 

mines  and  refining  plants  of  the  world.    Nickel*  wi 
be  worth  $2.    And  thus  the  profits  on  iron  will  - 
trol  other  industries. 

"'The  Steel  Trust  sells  rails  in  England  B 
pays  $5.11  freight,  and  sells  the  rails  here  , 
how  much  better  we  are  than  the  blawsted  British  ? 

'The  ship  subsidy  bill  was  designed  to  benefit  princi- 


TRUSTS.  8g 

,:alh'  l!l     3      i,,an1  0li  Company  and  the  United  States 
Corporation,  each  paying  tens  of  millions  of  dollars 
■  *  dividend*  now.    But  the  Rockefellers  and  Mor- 
ns of  the  country  must  be  protected.    The  more  they 
aore  they  want.    Someday  the  people  will  want 
l,;m  "'   ,,!'"-  enormous  and  ill-gotten  wealth-and  will 
take  it.' 

"The  Globe-Democral  and   Post-Diapatch  printed  the 
•1  low  in L 

"A  London  paper  atates    that     J.    Pierpont  Morgan 
mends  a  joint  syatem  of  trnata  as  the  best  means  to 
I  Wendahip  between   England    and     the    United 
Mr.  Morgan's  preference  for  this  general  remedy 
u'  ed.~ Globe-Democrat. 

-Wh,!,.  Mr.  Morgan  is  combining  the  big  carrying  lines 
be  th<  re  are  more  than  L000  ships— tramp  ships 
—lying  at  Am, man  porta  unable  to  Becure  cargoes.  These 
beli  -n.all  fellows  who  do  not  control  railways,  hence 

not  able  to  make  the  through  rates  the  big  fellows 
offer.  When  they  have  been  Btarved  out  there  will  be  none 
to  Bay  'nay'  to  the  mightiesl  of  mighty  men.— Post-Dis- 
patch. 

"Hen    It   m  article  from  The  Chicago  News': 

MKX  AM)  A  MONSTER. 

•When  the  railways  that  run  through  the  anthracite 

!  diatricts  of  Pennaylvania  decided  to  own  the  mines 

from  which  they  hauled  the  coal  to  market  they  put  up 

the  freight  charges  to  a  prohibitive  price.    It  was  a  policy 


30  TR1  - 

of  confiscation  and  w-  ful.    M 

were  sold  by  their  owner-  to  thi 
forced  .sales. 

"  'There  are  more  mines  thi  I 

coal  that  is  required  by  consumers    at    il  • 
charged  for  it.    The  resuH  i-  thai 
mis  mines  is  limited  according  to 
mine  operating  companies.     M  i  : 

the  year.    Thai  throw-  the  mil  il  of  work.     M 

encouragement  of  foreign   immigration 
districts  the   coal   companies    Buppli<  I 
more  labor  than  they  need.    That  mad    I 
have  paid  low  wages  and  have  made  m  . 
their  men,  such  as  those  for  rent,  po\t 
shameful  overcharge),  doctor-' 
or  not),  oil  for  lamps  and  provision!'  fr 
In  1900  the  United  Mine  Workers 
the  anthracite  coal  miners  and  brought  on  a 
lasting  forty-two  days  and  resulting  in  D 
tory  for  the  men.     Some  of  the  old,  bitter 
righted. 

'"Other   wrongs   remain.      Wages    ar 
Work  is  precarious.  The  miner  can  barely 
he  is  permitted  to  earn.    Meanwhile  the  pri< 
cite  coal  to  the  consumer  has  risen  enormously. 
monopoly,  working  under  an  ironclad  agr 
the  great  profits  and  hides  them  away  under  tr, 
keeping,  by  which  40  per  cent  or  more  of  the 


TRUSTS.  31 

disappears  as   Freight  charges — paid  by  the 

mono]  i  itself.     These  charges  are  wildly  unreason- 

Meanwhile  the  miner  is  permitted  to  dig  when  the 

iiii  -hut  down  1'  nienl,  making  a  bare  liv- 

;uit   the  coal  monopoly  does  not 
h;i  -  method-.    It  can  continue  to  use  obso- 

lete ma<  hinery  and  do  it-  work  in  a  wasteful  manner  be- 

lieap. 

■ul  Trust  pay-  its  men  on  the  average  $1.28  a 

da  the  miner-  air  employed  only  part  id'  the  time, 

•  i  nut  fairly  represent  what  their  wages  is  in 

rtion  t<»  their  living  expenses.     Last  year,  which  is 

I  to  h  ar  for  miners,  they  were  em- 

1  only  r.M  davs,  which  means  that  their  actual  yearly 

by  the  day  amounted  to  less  than  80 

In   1899  the  a\  Dumber  of  working  days  was 

\  -   the  average  earning  ca- 

a  mil:  ar  at  $248.     Out  of  this  sum  he 

mu-t  pay  the  coal  trusl  for  house  rent  from  $37  to  $72  a 

ir.  mu-t   supply  his  own  powder  at   $14  a  year  and  Ids 

:i  oil  ai  $o  a  year,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fee  to  the  coal 

an,   which    i-   $6   a   year  whether  the 

physician   i-  I  or  not.     With  what  the  miner  has 

left  he  mu-t  clothe  and   feed  himself  and  his  family,  and 

this  at   a  time  when  tin-  i  lies  of  life  are  unusually 

h. 

""Recently  the  miners,  through  their  union,  asked  20 
nt  increase  in  v  It  was  denied  them.    They 


32  TBI  STS 

are  said  to  have  offered  to  comproi 
vance,  but  the  trust  declined  to  tn 
miners  have  struck.    The  coal  monopo 
best  to  defeat  the  miners  and  di 
wishes  to  thrust  back  into  their  fornn 
dom  the  men  who  ask  a  living  nit''  of  [i 
hard  and  perilous  (oil.     It  i-  a  i 
monster — a  sight  to  bring  ti 
of  any  one  who  considers  all  tin 
it.    These  140,000  workers  ask  merely  a  j 
they  may  make  life  a  little  less  h 
those  whom  they  love.     Yet   they  an 
daring  to  dispute  with  this  lawli 
on  'running  its  own  busini 

"'The  coal  monopoly  makes  on,  | 

business  which  it  conducts  in  riols 
man's  laws  becomes  the  public's  busi 
evil  nature.    It  is  the  duty  of  th.    I  ;  trt- 

ment  of  justice  to  destroy  this  wicked  tr 

"That  is  not  all  of  their  iniquity.    With  all  their  wealth 
and  power,  the  trusts  control  politics  and 
fessional  politicians  and  lobbyist  stand  n 
to  do  their  bidding.    These  men  live  at  Washi, 
all  of  the  state  capitals  and  are  known  t< 
ing  that  way.    I  know  hundreds  of  them,  and  they  maku 
no  secret  of  their  business.    Xay.  they  aim 
themselves  to  a  disgusted  public.    Everybody  k: 
and  no  one  is  surprised  when  a  villainous 


TRUSTS.  33 

ruption  or  bribery  is  exposed.  All  have  grown  used  to  it 
on  account  of  its  frequency.  Through  these  agents  the 
trusts  control  the  legislative  bodies  and  courts  of  the  land. 
1-  it  any  wonder  then  that  they  go  on  doing  just  as  they 
pl<  1-  it  remarkable  that  they  defy  the  public,  which 

:nl  in  fear  ami  awe  of  them?    And  how  are 
thepeopl  nli  thnn?    1  f  a  different  set  of  politicians 

•  into  power,  the  trusts  proceed  to  corrupt  and  bribe 
them  in  the  same  way. 

"Who  »an   .'numerate  the  evils  of  the  trusts?     Thers 
do  end  of  them.    Aside  from  their  rebate  sys- 
a.  the  monopolization  of  industries,  the  ruin  of  com- 
petitor- and  the  corruption  and  bribery  of  courts  and  leg- 
-.  they  throw  thousands  of  people  out  of  work. 
fully  90  pel  cent  of  their  traveling  men,  drummers, 
agent-.  .  ;,rk~  and  bookkeepers  an-  dispensed  with.    Then, 
when  they  -hut  down  Bome  <>t'  their  plants  and  drive  com- 
;tor-  from  the  field,  many  more  people  are  deprived  of 
work,  with  the  result  that  a  job  is  a  thing  to  be  prized 
and  held  to  by  all  manner  of  means.    It  stands  between 
him  who  holds  it  and  want.     And  the  bitter  struggle  to 
hold  the.-e  jobs  giv<  to  another  danger,  which  is  this: 

ry  man  working  for  a  trust  will  be  obliged  to  vote  as 
commanded  or  lose  his  position.  And  right  here  is  a  dan- 
gerous moral  support  given  to  this  iniquitous  institution — 
the  control  of  vote 

.  then  we  find  that  in  addition  to  their  corruption 
and  bribery,  they  Becurely  hold  the  reins  of  government  by 
(3) 


34  TR1 

popular  vote.    Thus  we  find  cnl 

not  the  will  of  the  people,  b 
strong  and  arrogant,  dii 
public.     And  what  cant] 
to  be  honest?    The  words 

forcibly  in  this  cum.:     'Why,   man.  I: 
narrow  world  like  a  Col 
der  his  huge  legs,  and  peep  ^ 
honorable  gra\ 

"Washington  City  has  at  la-t 
Plutocracy  has  fortified 
great  American  people  aw;. 
themselves  as  completely  enthrall' 
by  the  Egyptians  under  Pharoah. 
"What  will  be  the  result  when  tl 

What  will  happen  when  this  for 

people — a  people  enraged  by  plund<  r,  : 

Only  wisdom  divine  could  prevent 

ful  than  anything  this  country  hs  a. 

"These  are  not  the  only  facto 

about  this  end.    When  all  are  considi 

optimistic  must  fear  and  tremble    at     :he    approaching 

storm. 

"During  my  two  term?  in  Cot  ned  to 

that  the  public  stood  helpless  to  remed} 

have  failed  to  pass  laws  for  their  own   a  ke  the 

courts,  the  legislative  bodies  seem  clogged  v 

measures  are  attempted,  but  act  freely  and  qu: 


TRUSTS. 


5 


for  the  benefit  of  plutocracy.   All  man- 
andeyaded  by  this  terrible  power  at 


will. 


1   ;  •  this  is  not  only  my  opinion  after  my 

corroborated  by  an  abund- 
:>  ='"  sides.     I  do  no.  ask  anyone  to  ae- 

wman,  but  submit  the  evi- 

ICllt.*' 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  RAILROADS  THE  SVM\  ANTS  OF    I  Ml 


How  They  Arc  Operated  t       ■ 

of  for  the   Public   Welfai  .g 

te  in  Their  II 


In  delving  into  the  secrete  11  •  an-i 

in  studying  the  subjecl  m  all  . 
face  to  face  with  tht*  railroad  (ju< 
to  find  an  intimate  connection  and  i  »oen 

the  two.    I  had  nol 

along  this  path,  hut  as  it  did.  I  took  it  up  an 
investigated  it  also. 

And,  furthermore,  I  had  been  it   \\ 
little  while  before  1  became  impn 
railroad  interests  are  Looked  afl 
lobbyists  in  the  service  of  the  d 
the  legislative  halls  of  C     , 
men,  Senators  and  officials  « 
power  whatever.    There  at  the  fountain  I 

of  power,  they  flock  to  advance  their  own 
or  foul  means.    One  need  not 

the  interests  of  the  trusts  and  ra. 
an  extraordinary  degree. 

Yet  the  railroad  L  been,  and        | 

factor  m  modern  civilization     t, 

tninzation.    Its  imp.. 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  31 

■  I.      Through   the   railroads  far  away 

been  brought  into  touch 

pulation,  and  been  made  to  blossom 

'ion.  brought  the  world  together  by 

annihilat  Bringing  the  people  together  it 

of  ideas,  a  broader  conception 
humanity.    Its  practical  and 
!i  unlimited.    With  the  railroad 
mine  is  no  more.      \    all  times  the  pro- 
may  1.  to  market  and  ex- 
nan  at  will  to  summon  the  eom- 
POm  the   four  quarters  of 
In  truth,  the  railroad  plays  an  important  part 
.  part  of  our  industrial  organism. 
.  building  material,  etc.,  must  be 

n  important  factor  in  our  industrial 
or-  r  it  has  assumed  proportions  of 

irding  to  the  census  reports, 

ipulatioo  of  the  United  States 

it.    The  capita]  invested  is  inconciev- 

tD]  rative  estimate.    The  rail- 

of  land,  most  of  which 
has  b  to  them  by  the  people.    This 

ari.a  j  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 

I       :     \:  d    Kansas.     Think  of  it!     Six   large 

gta  the  people.     Over  this  terri- 

>f  railroad.    One  can  grasp 


38  RAILROADS  AND  THE   I  II 

but  a  faint  idea  of  the  th  and 

agency.    And  like  every  <>t  I 

capacity  for  good,  it  has  also 

the  railroads  have  been  a 

evil  both.    Its  good  is  advertised, 

the  coming  revolution  its  power  and  : 

with  terrible  i 

This  may  appear  to  be  a  very 
little  reflection  will  prove  it  is  n 
is  seen  in  fostering  trusts,  in  supp 
legislative  body  in  the  country,  and  in  1m 
officials  all  over  the  land.     Finally,  when  tl 
bursts  upon  us,  a  general  Btoppage  of  the 
trouble,  misery  and  starvation   to  tho 
dreds  of  thousands.    It  is  estimat*  .id* 

were  to  cease  running  entirely.  Mar', 
hand  on  New  York.  Philadelphia  and  all  hi 
pending  on  them  for  provisions,  within  tv 

"And  this  is  what  will  happen  during  the  i  omii 
lution.    Railroads  will  be  more  thi  than  1 

of  this  cataclysm.    Take  the  great  coal  Btriki 
vania.    The  railroads  and  coal  mines  aw  own<  the 

same  capitalists.  How  was  this  accomplished  ?  In  I 
ginning  the  owners  of  the  railroa  to  own 

coal  fields  and  mines.    They  pureh;  me  of  the  mi 

and  raised  the  freight  rates.  But  to  their  own  mini 
rebated  the  largest  part  of  the  money  paid  the 
freight.    In  this  way  they  could  undersell  everyhod; 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  39 

weaker  ones  were  forced  to  sell  their  mines  to 
the  railroad.-.    This  war  was  kept  up  until  all  competition 
was  driven  from  the  field,  and  the  owners  of  the  railroads 
ntire  coal  fields.     All  of  the  terrible  strikes 
are  the  resull  i  d  and  avarice  in  attempting  to  rob 

tie  utting  their  wages  to  a  point  that 

:vly  furnishes  them  a  means  of  existence.    The  public 
blind  I  id  and  avarice  of  these  immense  rail- 

id  cor]  neither  do  they  blame  the  poor  working 

men  for  refusing  to  work  for  starvation  wag  3.    When  the 

.  with  its  strikes  and  riots,  in  railroad, 
mi  ads  will  cease  running,  plung- 

ing all  of  the  I.  ities  into  a  wild  panic,  resulting  in 

chaos,  miser}  and  starvation. 

ir  Trusl  and  manj  avored  by  the 

railroad-  in  just  the  same  way  as  the  mines  and  the  Oil 
it 
Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  in  addition  to  the  widely-ad- 
,  d  gooe  d  by  the  railroads,  a  correspond- 

ing int  of  evil  may  be  laid  at  their  doors,  which,  of 

hide.    Take  even  the  amount 
of  bn  f  which  they  ilty.    The  least  observing 

end  millions  annually  by  keeping  a 

mIv  at  Washington,  but  at  every  State  Capital 

in  ;.  •    I  :     »n,  which  corrupts  everybody  and  anybody  who 

will  and  can  them  to  attain  their  ends,  even  down 

to  officials  and  legislative  bodies  in  the  cities  and  towns. 

That  public  morals  should  thus  be  contaminated  and 


iO  RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS. 

lowered  is  a  terrible  meanace  to  the  well  being  of  the 
Commonwealth.  With  their  enormous  wealth,  bribes,  in- 
fluence and  fat  positions,  they  are  the  making  and  unmak- 
ing of  many  politicians.  They  have  the  powrer  to  ruin  or 
promote  the  interest  of  thousands  of  citizens  just  as  they 
see  fit.  Can  you  doubt  that  the  railroad  enters  into  our 
civil  and  moral  life,  as  well  as  into  our  business  and  in- 
dustrial ? 

The  railroads  of  the  country  may  be  likened  to  the 
arteries  in  the  human  body,  a  means  of  healthful  circula- 
tion when  in  a  healthy  condition.  When  the  blood  flows 
easily  through  the  body,  life,  health,  usefulness,  happiness, 
etc.,  are  all  promoted.  But  let  the  blood  cease  to  flow 
properly;  let  some  trouble  arise  and  congestion  set  in. 
l"n less  this  be  corrected,  calamity  is  bound  to  result.  Our 
great  country,  with  its  teeming  millions  of  people,  is  an 
organism — a  body  economic.  Heretofore  the  railroads 
have  run  freely  to  and  fro,  bringing  plenty,  peace,  happi- 
-  and  health  to  society.  As  long  as  this  continues  the 
body  economic  will  be  edified  and  built  up.  But  suppose 
all  the  railroads  should  be  tied  up  at  the  same  time — 
which  is  more  than  probable  when  the  Railroad  Trust 
con  y  by  an  universal  strike?    The  facts  stands  out 

plainly  that  the  stoppage  would  work  infinite  hardship 
and  suffering  upon  all  the  people.    In  the  first  place,  coal 
ild  not  be  transported,  and  the  direct  effect  would  be 
hut  down  factories,  foundries,  mills,   shops,  etc.     A 
•f  this  wras  had  when  in  1895  the  great  railroad 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  41 

strike  took  place,  starting  in  Chicago  and  spreading  over 
a  large  part  of  the  country.  In  a  few  days  the  local  coal 
supplies  gave  out  and  thousands  of  plants  were  compelled 
to  shut  down.  Yet  this  strike  was  not  universal  or  of  long 
duration.  But  a  general  and  prolonged  tie-up  would  be 
different.  Fuel  would  soon  be  so  scarce  and  food  so  utter- 
ly impossible  to  secure  that,  as  has  been  stated,  the  gov- 
ernment staticians  estimate  that  in  two  weeks  starva- 
tion would  sieze  the  larger  cities,  and  the  distress  and 
misery  would  be  something  unheard  of  before. 

"But/'  some  will  say,  "the  government  will  order  out 
the  federal  troops ;  railroad  traffic  will  be  started,  even  if 
blood  must  be  shed." 

Exactly.  This  is  precisely  what  will  happen.  The  fed- 
eral troops  and  the  people  will  clash  and  blood  will  be 
shed.  But,  mark!  This  is  not  the  only  difficulty  that 
will  have  to  be  contended  with  in  the  year  1907.  The 
railroad  question,  like  the  trust  question,  is  only  one  of 
many  equally  dangerous  factors  that  will  have  to  be  con- 
tended with.  On  all  sides  will  be  strife  and  turmoil  just 
as  terrible.  And  while  it  is  true  that  the  government  will 
send  the  federal  troops  to  the  various  scenes  of  carnage, 
is  it  not  true  that  a  revolution  is  on  when  the  people  and 
government  clash? 

"But,"  it  may  be  said,  "all  of  this  may  be  averted.  Peace 
and  prosperity  may  spread  its  wings  over  the  land  once 
more,  and  the  railroads  begin  to  pursue  the  straight  and 
narrow  way,  thus  giving  entire  satisfaction  to  everybody. 


42  RAILROAD 

They  may  cea 

way  make  themselvee     po] 

America." 

To  this  I  say  Amen,  and  il 
bright  prospects  in  the  fut  B 

appear  can  be  ca-ily  proven.    L 

To  begin  wit  li.  the  railr 
must  earn  dividends  first 
else  is  secondary,  even  the  pub] 
managers  and  officials  who  a 
but  those  that  fail  arc  d 
stockholders.    The  aim,  then,  of  all  pi 
officials,  etc.,  may  readilj    I 
the  sole  aim.    Profits  th( 
tions,  abilities  and  salaries 
The  owners  ask  no  questioi 
icisms,  save  along  this  line. 

So  then  we  lind  it  quite  natural  : 
the  public  welfare  as  a  seconds 
crops,  goods  and  product.-  of  a:;\  d<  -<  ripti   n  ... 
cidental  considerations.    The  | 

that.    Vanderbilt  once  said,  "The  public  be  dan.  and 

that  is  about  the  sentiment  of  all  the  rai: 
But  the  practice  of  duping  the  peoph  be- 

come habitual;  and  the  public  has  learnt 
matter  of  course. 

Do  the  railroads  succeed  then  in  obtain.  h  large 

dividends?   They  do.    Their  profits  are  fabulou- 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  45 

■ncceed  in  hiding  the  fact  from  the  public  in  a  very 

declaring  50  or  100  per  cent 

ji%  theii  Btock  ten  times  its  real  value 

aml  then  10  per  cent  dividend  on  this 

which  looks  like  very  modest  earnings  to 

the  puhli 

A  id  of  the  practice  of  watering 

will  only  briefly  tonch  on  the  subject. 

ade  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Van 

ide  as  Investments"  (Xew 

P,   Putnam's  Son-.   L893),  estimates  that  the 

the  in  -  over  67  cents  on  the  dol- 

.ver  l«»  cents  on  the  dollar.    He 

i  the 

-    now  in  existence,  the 

:•  paid  not  more  than  $465,000,000,  or  10 
their  and  probably  less.    Hence 

»er  cent  per  annum  on  the 

II  icks  on  the  ground  that 

it  ,  mi  redncing  railroad  rates. 

which  the  watering  of  se- 
rried   is   surprising.     Thus  Mr.   C. 
\\\  eral  freight  and  passenger  agent 

of  one  of  the  leading  railroads,  Bays: 

.,,.  p.;  mj  the  Kansas  Midland,  cost,  including  a 

t.  but  10  per  mile,  of  which  30  per 

furnished  by  the  municipalities  along  its  line. 


44  RAILROADS  Wl»  TH 

Yet  with  construction  profil  r0*d 

shows  a  capitalization  o 

That  is  to  say,  deducting  t! 
palities,  the  road  coal  the  coii 

mile,  and  they  issued  stock-  and  I 
$53,000  per  mile. 

The  railroads  could  be  rebuill 
present  capitalization— possibly    \oi   I 
Union  Pacific  railroad  proved 
Board  of  Equalization  that  the  cost  <>f  I) 
Central  was  $7,298  per  mile.     Tl 
less  than  $10,000  jjer  mile, 
ly  taken  a  contract  to  build  a  1  in.  of  ra 
$8,000  per  mile.     Even  at  $ 
value  of  the  railroad.-   of  the    Unit 
$3,622,660,000,  while  they  are  cap 
923.    Mr.  Chas.  B.  Spahr,  in  his  "Diatribe 
page  41,  estimates  that  the  railroads 
the  original  investors  *:;.;  1  1,400,000.     '1 
debtedness,  or  watered  stock,  is  noth 
extortion,  which  is  in  effect  a  mori  g 
the  country. 

I  think  every  one  is  willing  to  coi  at 

railroad  stocks  are  watered,  and   w&\ 
deal,  and  I  think  also  it  is  apparent 
small  dividend  on  the  watered  stock  is  an 
dend  on  the  real  capital  invested. 

If,  then,  the  railroads  are  making  such  enormous  divi- 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  45 

la  and  profits,  how  is  it  done?    What  do  they  resort 

erything.     They  stop  at  nothing. 

the  [Jnited  States  government  is  robbed  annually 

uns.    In  hauling  the  mails  the  greatest  frauds  im- 

ginable  are  practiced.     We  quote  the  Appeal  to  Reason 

in  as  article  which  explains  this  system  of  fraud  very 

clear] 

HOW  THE  GOVERNMENT  IS  ROBBED. 

rnm.'iit  refuses  to  Increase  the  pay  of  letter 

ri'T*.  postal  .lcrks  and  other  government  employes. 

"Mr.   Load  and  others  in  charge  of  post  office  affairs 

*****  rl"  extravagance  as  an  excuse  for  overworking 

and  underpaying  men  employed  by  the  United  States  gov- 

ernment. 

ould  lik.-  wry  much  to  know  what  Mr.  Loud  and 
ffice  authorities  have  t«»  say  about  the  steady 
robbing  ">'  >:  rnmenl  BY  Till':  RAILROADS. 

"Wl  the  money  paid  out  by  the  railroad  lobby, 

that  it-  robbing  of  the  government  may  go  on? 

would  he  interesting  to  know  why  it  is  that  no  man 
in  public  office  combines  the  ability  and  honesty  necessary 
t  the  railroad  thievi 

"Bead  -   me  figures;  bear  them  in  mind  when  govern- 
nt  ownership  of  railroads  [s  discussed. 

nator  Vilas,  of  Wisconsin,  in  a  speech  in  the  Sen- 
I '.binary    13,    1895,  supplied  the  following  figures 
an: 


4G  RAILROADS  AND  THE  TBI 

"The  cost  of  building  one  ol  th< 

averages  $3,500. 

"The  railroads  charge  tl 
for  the  use  of  these  cars,  in  ad 
ernment  pay  for  the  hauling  oi  th( 

"According  to  the  railroad 
Vilas,  the  following  expe] 
postal  cars,  for  each  car: 

"Light,  $2;  6  a  year;  heating 
a  year;  cleaning,  $365  a  year;  total  Bi 
taining  each  car  in  u-  '■'>. 

"It  is  needless  to  point  out  thi 
estimates.    But  let  them  stand  for  1 
ment. 

"When  Senator  Vilas  w.i 
appropriate  $3,250,000  to  be  paid  b)  thi 
renting  post  office  cars  during  th 
amount  was  to  be  paid  for  790 
in  use,  180  cars  in  reserve,  and  .'>(»  addi 
might  become  necessary. 

"According  to  the  railroads'  own  figun  - 
maintaining  and  operating  these  cars  wi 

"Take  that  amount  from  the  appropriatii 
000  and  you  find  that  the  railroads  were  paid  l>v  tl. 
ernment  $2,314,840  for  the  USE  of  tl 

"To  build  those  cars  outright  cost  on 

"So  that,  after  deducting  a  sufficient  amount 
the  cars  and  keep  them  in  order,  the  rail 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  47 

tli-  rnment  in  one  .war  practically  the  total  cost  of 

building   th  J\    ADDITION",   THE  GOVERN- 

IfENT  PAYS  AN   EXTRAVAGANTLY  HIGH  KATE 
I  HAULING  ALL  THESE  CA] 

orse  instead  of  better  since 

the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30, 

101,  th<  \  paid  to  the  railroad  companies  for 

th<  car — as  rental,  independent  of  the 

•  r  hauling  the  cats — $4,638,234.03.    Seven  hun- 

dr.  .sire  used.     Thus,  as  rental  for 

nmenl  paid  an  a\  of  $G,0G3.05. 

••  'I'.,  build  a  mail  «  the  outside  limit,  as 

dlroads,   of  the  »f  maintaining  and 

-a  total  of  $4,856  for 
building  r  and  keeping  it  in  order  for  a  year. 

•'I  .ernim  nt  paid  the  railroads  for  each 

building  the  car,  the  cost  of 

ntainii  idditional. 

••K.    -v  rear  the  railroad  back  from  the  govern- 

nt  the  entire  <  every  ear,  the  entire  cost  of  main- 

ind  operating  them,  $1,207.05  besides,  and  the 

the  mails,  as  the  law  provides— 

mtly  high  rate— over  and  above  all  the  rest. 


-Individual  railroads  fare  better  than  others. 
•Take,  for  example,  the  New  York  Central  Railroad, 
which  owna  one  of  New  York  State's  representatives  in 


48  RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRI  - 

the  United  States  Senate,  Mr.  Di 
other,  Mr.  Piatt,  through  his  expn 

"The  New  York  Central  i 
on  the  routes  from  New  York 
government  paid  the  New  Xork  ( 
the  USE  of  22  cars. 

"Therefore,  the  governmenl  paid  to  I 
tral  for  one  year  $10,456.0?  for  each  i 

"That  is  to  say.  each  year  it  pays  the 
building  the  car,  and  the  total  cos! 
TWICE  OVER. 

"AND  AT  Till-]  END  OF  THE  VKAl;  THE  RAIL- 

EOAD  STILL  OWNS  THE  I  AW. 

"In  addition,  the  railroad  company  i 
government  $1,288,080. 41  for  transporting  the  un- 

der the  regular  weight  schedule,  bet 
Buffalo. 


"If  you  want  to  know  how  the  railro  he  gov- 

ernment, through  the  connivance  of  S 
men  and  others  influenced  by  the  railroad  Lol 
these  figures,  and  compare  the  charges  for  tr.  mg 

government  mail  matter  and  ordinan  -o  a 

New  York  Central  station  twenty  miles  from  New  York: 

"For  carrying  200  pounds  per  day  of  mail  matter,  a- 
per  mile  per  annum,  the  railroad  is  authorized  to  charge 
in  one  year  $1,000. 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  49 

"The  express  company  carries  a  200-pound  package  the 

me  distance  every  day  for  $365  a  year. 

'in  other  words,  the  government  pays  $1,000  for  carry- 
ing ".'00  pounds  of  mail  matter  twenty  miles  every  day 
for  a  year,  in  addition  to  paying  an  enormous  rental  for 
the  can.  Express  matter  travels  the  same  distance  at  the 
same  speed  for  $365  a  year,  and  both  the  railroad  com- 
pany and  the  express  company  make  a  good  profit  on  the 

transaction. 

"Poort  Manual  gives  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  com- 
pany*- <nvn  statement  for  1900  as  to  its  earnings. 

"On  pa  re,  the  railroad  earns  a  small  fraction  over 

mile  per  passenger.  On  freight,  it  earns  a 
little  Less  than  a  third  of  a  cent  per  mile  per  ton. 

"THE  GOVERNMENT,  HOWEVER,  PAYS  ALL 
THE  RAILROADS,  INCLUDING  THE  PENNSYL- 
VANIA. AN  AVERAGE  OF  12.18  PER  MILE. 


"Th<  se  .U'  dull  figures,  but  when  you  talk  government 
ownership,  when  you  talk  about  the  robbery  of  the  public 
by  corporations,  it  is  well  to  have  some  facts  at  your  dis- 
posal. Remember  that  the  United  States  government 
pays  every  year  to  the  railroads  $38,000,000  for  carrying 

the  mails  and  for  the  use  of  cars. 

"In   France,  where  the  government   controls  all  the 

railroads,  owns  many  of  them,  and  will  eventually  own 

all,  THE  RAILROADS  CARRY  THE  MAILS  FREE,  IN 

RETURN  FOR  THEIR  GRANTS  OF  RIGHT  OF  WAY. 

"In  Switzerland  the  railroads  receive  nothing  for  carry- 

(4) 


50  RAILROADS  AND  THE  TBI 

ing  the  mails.    The  companj  tl 

a  railroad  had  to  carry  mail  f re<  in  exchai 

lege— with  this  exception :    If  the 

ally  earned  less  than  Zy2  per  c<  nl 

paid  a  reasonable  price  for  mail 

wise  than  we,  have  now   made  all 

property. 

"In  Germany,  all  rairoads  mil 
If  other  cars  are  needed  to  transport  tin 
eminent  pays  a  small   rate,  which 
cost  of  hauling  the  cars. 

"Austria's  rules  arc  practically   th 
Germany. 

"The  British  parliament,  like  our 
gress,  consists  largely  of  men  on  aed  h 
they  have  some  shame  over  then 
ish  mail  service  includes  the  pan 
work  of  our  express  companies,  tl 
the  railroads  for  all  of  its  carrying, 
enormous  parcel  express  business,  ob  the 

amount  which  the  United   - 
railroads  for  the  carrying  of  pure  mail  1 

"The  public  officials  in  Washington  wi.  ■  this 

kind  of  thievery  talk  about  extrava  ; 
it  is  suggested  that  the  hard-working  men  who  sort   I 
letters  in  the  post  office  or  carry  the  huge  bundles  on  their 
backs  should  be  paid  fairly. 

"They  can  easily  be  persuaded  to  give  away  millions  of 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  51 

government  money  to  the  New  York  Central  Railroad, 
which  has  one  of  its  lackeys  and  one  of  its  puppets  in  the 
1  States  Senate,  but  they  can't  treat  fairly  the  actual 
workers  w;  re  the  people. 

'Tin-  railroa  reharge  the  government  for  carrying 

the  mails.  The  postal  department  knows  it;  Congress 
knows  it:  tl.  -  itor-  know  it;  the  Cabinet  knows  it; 
tin'  President  knows  it.  Then  why  is  it  not  stopped? 
E  swers  in  capital  letters — WHY?    Go  ask  the  lobby 

in  the  hire  of  the  corporations." 

Another  way  they  increase  their  enormous  dividends  is 

by  overch  i  and  taking  advantage  of  shippers  when- 

•  unity  presents  itself.     This  fall  the  har- 

are  truly  great  and  bounteous.     Yet 

the  railroad-  are  already  beginning  their  cry  of  a  shortage 

of  i  car  famine,  etc.,  after  which  the  next  step  of 

or  the  car-  will  be  made  easier. 

I  ommerce  Commission  was  once  ex- 
amining railroad  officials  in  1895.  The  testimony  was  in- 
tei  Among  other  things,  the  Vice  President  of 

the  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas  Railroad  said  that  they 
guided,  in  making  their  rates,  by  one  thing,  and  that 
was  to  alwa]  I  all  the  traffic  would  bear.    And  this  is 

•\vn  maxim  with  all  the  roads. 
;ote  the  Phoenix  Gazette  as  follows: 
-Railroad  companies  charge  the  same  rates  of  fare  now 
lid  thirty  years  ago,  although  they  purchase  all 
their  supplies  and  equipments  at  one-half  less  then  then. 


52  RAILROADS  AND  THE 

Why  have  fares  not  fallen  like  other  thinp 

Gazette. 
I  quote  another  writer  as  followi 

"It  is  often  said  that  freighl  chtl 
in  recent  years.    In  soup-  i 
tition  between  differenl  roads  or  « 
routes,  rates  have  been  reduced.    In  "'.l"  i 
been  raised.    For  instance,  in  1889  th< 
bale  of  cotton  from  Eufala,  Indian  Territi 
Mo.,  a  distance  of  535  miles,  rai  |8.     I       - 
$3.30.    In  1894-r>  it  was  $4.    Man\  similar  in 
be  given.    Rates  arc  always  kept  up  • 
possible.    But  the  railroads  through  th< 
gans  always  try  to  carry  the  impression  thai  t! 
ducing  rates,  and  such  cases  as  th< 
of  by  the  public." 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  say-: 

"The  people  of  this  country  pay  more  for  tl 
railroads  and  get  less  benefits  than  any  country 
and  the  railroads  exercise  more  despotic 
than  in  any  other  country.  And  in  other  countri 
roads,  now  owned  by  the  public  are  not  very  j 

"The  railroads  in  this  section  ha  ;n- 

crease  in  freight  rates.     The  consolidation   «  cut 

down  expenses  and  give  the  public  the  benefit,  you  kr. 
How  do  you  like  the  benefit  of  private  consolidation? 
Local  papers  are  silent.    Afraid  of  ] 

The  practice  of  overcharging  in  freight  rate*  ha*  1 


RAILROADS  AXD  THE  TRUSTS.  53 

the  cause  of  terrible  hardships  at  different  times.    Not 

be  farmers  of  Kansas  had  an  abundant 
harvest  of  corn.    The  price  it  brought  was  low  and  it  was 
ntiful  that  the  farmers  burned  it  for  fuel,  because 
tin-  price  of  coal  was  wry  high.     But  at  the  same  time 
>al  miners  of  Illinois  were  in  a  starving  condition, 
l"  a  shut-down  of  the  mines,  there  being  an  over- 
production  of  coal    Here,  then,  was  a  Btrange  state  of  af- 
fair-.   The  miners  wanted  the  farmer-'  corn  to  eat.    The 
fanner-  wanted  th«'  coal,  but  they  could  not  effect  an  cx- 

might  burn  the  corn,  but  the  min- 
>uld  doI  cat  the  coaL     All  that  was  needed  was  an 
product-.    The  railroad-  might  have  effected 
thi  lid  not.     Instead  they  maintained  an  ex- 

orbitantly high   rate  on  both  corn  and  coal — a  rate  so 
high  that  there  would  be  oothing  left  after  paying  the 
freight.     The  result  was  that  the  miners  continued  living 
in  a  Btarving  condition,  while  the  farmers  suffered  from 
cold. 
But  the  railroads  have  proven  themselves  heartless  and 
n  more  than  one  case.     I  quote  an  article  from 
tlie  St.  Louis  Star,  that  describes  an  actual  occurrence, 
though  it  is  so  heartless  it  i-  hard  to  believe: 
BRUTAL  INHUMANITY. 
"A   circumstance  occurred  upon  the  platform  of  the 
iri  Pacific  depot  Wednesday  morning  at  Jefferson 
City  that  ought  to  serve  as  a  lasting  lesson  to  both  the 
railroad  and  the  Capital  City  authorities  that  the  people 


54  RAILROADS  AND  Till:  TIM  STH 

generally  will  noi  put  up  with  anythin  bru- 

tality among  human  or  bruti 

"About  9  o'clock  Tuesday  oi 
years  of  age  was  taken  from  the  top  0 
parently  fatally  injured  by  Bomi 

"The  boy  was  laid  on  a  stretcher  and  the  railw 
cian,  together  with  the  mayor  and  n 
notified,  and,  according  to  thi 
duty  at  the  depot,  the  physician  ca 
any  examination,  declined  u>  do  anything  in 
whereupon  the  mayor  and  marshal  in 
to  do  nothing.    In  the  meantime  the 
seious,  and  at  2  o'clock  in  the  morning 
stretcher,  not  having  received  any  att< 
cept  what  the  baggageman  ei-  could  give  him. 

""As  the  returning  del  i  the 

platform  the  condition  of  the  injure.! 
around,  and  the  facts  being  elicited,  thi  im- 

peratively given  to  understand  that  thi 
care  of,  and  the  promise  wax  made  that  inm. 
tion  should  be  given  the  apparently  dying  younf 
it  was  not  until  the  Hon.  Richard  Barthi 
that  the  boy  should  be  taken  to  a  hospital  and  ca: 
at  his  own  expense  that  any  action  whatever  was  tak.  :,. 

"The  inattention  to  the  boy  perhaps  grew  out  of  a  dis- 
agreement between  the  railway  and  the  city  as  to  which 
should  assume  the  responsibility  of  earing  for  the  unfor- 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  55 

tunate,  and  in  the  meantime  he  was  left  to  suffer,  and  for 
that  matter,  die. 

"No  more  heartless  sight  was  ever  witnessed,  at  least 
in  a  civilized  community,  than  that  which  was  uncovered 
the  vi.'\v  of  the  hundreds  of  people  assembled  at  the 
of  the  l£i8SOuri  Pacific  Railway  in  the  Capital  City 
jouri  at  2  Wednesday  morning." 

But  to  go  hark  to  the  previous  discussion;  that  is,  as  to 
tlv  i'  the  railroads  mending  their  evil  ways  and 

_  public  servants,  popular,  just  and  fair.    They 
would  have  to  become  this  to  be  eliminated  as  a  factor  in 
the  revolution.     Will  they  do  it?    Reason  says  no.    The 
in  th<  say  no.     For  the  railroads  to  become 

fair  and  just  would  mean  to  largely  reduce  their  dividends, 
an,l  (J  thing  that  never  will  be  tolerated.    Rather 

than  cut  down  their  prolits  they  will  resort  to  anything. 
[1  i-  more  likely  they  will  seek  to  increase  their  profits. 
In   f;|,  rything  points  to  that  move  on  their  part. 

The  question  is,  how  much  more  will  the  American  peo- 
ple stand  ?  Bow  long  will  they  submit  to  the  thumb 
screws  ?  The  halt  will  be  called  when  the  general  uprising 
takes  place.  In  the  meantime  the  railroads  are  doing  their 
part  to  hasten  that  day.    I  quote  the  "Appeal  to  Reason" 

again: 

THE  MORMAXIZATIOX  OF  THE  WTORLD. 

•■Napoleon's  plot  to  secure  control  of  all  Europe— Rus- 
sia's plot  to  control  the  whole  eastern  coast  of  Asia— the 
plotting  of  all  the  diplomatists  of  the  world,  fade  into  the 


5G  RAILROADS  AND  THE 

pale  colors  of  a  departing  rainbow  i  omp 
of  three  American  financier  ntrol  tl 

world. 

"The  plot,  in  its  magnifii 
all  the  lands  and  seas  of  the  Wi  Btern  b< 
posed.    H.  Gaylord  Wilshire,  edil 
zine  and  candidalr  for  parliamenl  from  V 
ada,  gives  the  astonishing  details  in  I 
Wilshire's  Magazine.    Advance   -]  ■  'na- 

tional article,  fresh  from  the  pi 
newspaper  offices. 

"'Give  me  a  lever  long  enough  and     , 
and  I  can  move  the  earth,'  has  alwi  !  a*  an 

idealistic  claim  of  a  fanciful  philosopfa 

"J.  Pierpont  Morgan.  John  D.  R  'amen 

J.  Hill  are  three  financiers  who  have  found  a 
stand  on,  and  the  place  is  \.  ..   fork.    'I" 
long  enough— the  Northern  Securities  Com; 
by  the  United  State?  Supreme  Court— and  Mr.  \Y. 
shows  how  they  can  move  the  earth. 

"With  $100,000,000,  these  three  men 
control  $800,000,000  of  stock?,  being  the  who' 
the  Burlington,  the  Northern  Pacific  and  I 
ern  Kailways. 

"They  have  actually  invested  %  Ato\ 

the  Northern  Securities  Company.    But  1  mixing  the 

First  Morganization  Company,  as  Mr.  Wikhire  calif 
control  the  Northern  Securities  Company,  th. 


RAILROADS  AND  THE  TRUSTS.  57 

cure  the  whole  capitalization  of  the  latter  company  with 

»0}000,000  of  stock  in  the  Northern  Securities 

tnpany,  and  then  Bel]  half  of  the  First  Morganization 

I    impany's  stock  to  the  public — or  10  per  cent  of  it — and 

I  of  theii  capital  back. 

lation  published  by  Mr.  Wilshire,  Morgan 

further  pro;  two  confreres  to  later  float  the 

lird  and  even   the   Fourth   ^[organization 

<  additional  roads  with  each  reorgani- 

until  eventually  the  great  ms  such  as  the  New 

y.,-     |    ntral,  P  Lvania,  Union  Pacific,  Santa  Fe,  and 

in  fa.t  all  the  roada  in  tl  ntry,  will  be  controlled  by 

these  tbr  while  the  amount  invested  by  them 

wil' 

••■[•,,  rha1  lei  tinned  division  of  stock  issues 

into  majority  and  minority  holdings  can  be  carried  has 

pointed  out.    The  natural  consumma- 
te, n  Securities  decision  has  never  before 
!  and  the  Morganization  of  the  industries  of 
the  world,  along  this  line,  is  made  not  only  clear,  but  very, 
-v  near,  in  this  wonderful  exposition  of  the  great  finan- 
cial han-^  low  ..ver  the  heads  of  the  public." 
The  Denver  News  hat         following  item: 

WHAT  WILL  THE  HARVEST  BE? 

"The  I  States  Supreme  Court  not  only  decided  in 

favor  of  the  Hill-Morgan  railroad  trust,  but  barred  Minne- 

rom  bringing  any  further  cases  against  the  merger 

in  any  court.     The  trusts  are  sowing  the  seed  and  the 


58  RAILROADS  AND  THE  I  i: 

courts  arc  raking  it  in.    Wnai  will  I 
E.  in  Denver  New-. 

All  of  these  nefarious  pracl 
roads  can  have  l>ul  one  eff<  ci     ,; 
indignant  public     Big  strikes   wi  I 
sympathy  will  be  with     the 
strikes  will  lake  plai  ins<  tin 

result  and  the  militia,  federal 
part.    This  phase,  the  railroad  q  h 
many  other  agents  at  work  toward  thi 


CHAPTER  IV, 


LEGISLATION. 


Fraudulent  Elections;  National,  State  and  City — Kevela- 
tions  of  Appalling  Corruption — The  Courts;  the 
[njunction  and  Other  Desperate  Measures. 


"Bui  to  go  back  to  my  work  at  Congress.  I  had  made 
up  my  mind  to  fighl  the  trint<  right  from  the  beginning, 
ami  to  raise  m)  test  against  them  at  every  op- 

irtunity.  This  1  did.  At  the  same  time  there  were 
many  oth      I  mm  doing  the  same  thing,  of  whom 

quite  a  number  wrere  in  earnest,  and  just  as  anxious  to 
linsl  these  institutions  as  I  was.    I  had  intro- 
duce] an  anti-trust  bill,  but  it  was  tabled  with  a  number  of 
otl  I'ln'  first  year  had  almost  passed,  and  it  had  not 

D  taken  up  yi 

I     tfi  true  a  leal  oi"  work  must  be  done  and  Con- 

ry  busy.     However,  there  always  seems  to 

time  enough   for  other  work,  such  as  appropriation 

bills,  railroad  and  corporation  bills,  etc.,  but  very  little 

time  for  anti-trust  bills.    The  reason  is  plain  enough,  for 

ery  member  of  Congress  is  a  holder  of  stocks  and 

bonds  in  railroads,  mining,  oil  or  other  interests  that  must 

(59) 


60 


LEGISLATE 


be  looked  after  fust,  and  the 
anti-trust  legislation.     5Te8,  and  even  ma 
gressmen  work  hard  and  openl; 
enterprises.    That  is  the  wi} 
many  years.    This  is  the  wra; 

"Fourteen  thousand  five  hundred    ! 
ported  to  the  House  of  Representativ< 
less  than  2,000  have  been  favorably 
various  committees  through  whose  ; 
must  pass,  before  the  people's  repn 
them.    Of  this  number  doI  a  singh 
labor  other  than  adversely.    The  entire  loi  ai 
the  financial  interest  of  a  few  in 
tions.    Here  are  some  of  the  suli 
have  been  introduceil  on  these  sul 
age,  38;  public  buildings,  304;  cha 
monuments  and  statue-.  59;  tru- 
churches,  168;  bankrupt ey.  18;  bri 
constitution,  42;  Chinese,  9;  D 

pure  foods,  8;  Indians.  102;  interstati  im- 

migration, 12;  irrigation.  18;  mines  and  min 

In  a  little  pamphlet  entitled   "Id   Bell   BJ 
Out,"  a  number  of  indictments  are  broughl  on- 

gressmen,  Senators  and  the  different  ra- 

tions.   They  are  not  exaggerated  at  all.    I  quot< 
them: 

"The  persistent  refusal  of  Congress  to  -al 


LEGISLATION.  61 

•anka  in  the  tare  of  an  almost  Universal  demand 
for  them. 

andals  in  which  Senators,  Congressmen 

■1  other  officials,  including  the  President,  have  been 

chi  with  boodle  transactions  in  deals  with  the  Sugar 

net,  mail  contracts,  Chicago  Gas  stock,  bond  syndicates, 

rporation  attorneys,  like  Senators  Thurston,  Vilas, 
Hill  and  others,  being  allowed  to  hold  public  and  corpor- 
is- time. 
e  encouragemenl  by  Congress  of  the  militia,  and 
the  effort  to  keep  Btationed  large  detachments  of  regulars 
ir  the  manufacturing  centers— making  it  manifest  that 
any  movemeni  againsi  plutocratic  Bpoilation  will  be  in- 
t!v  crushed. 
"TI  thai  the  political  bosses  go  to  the  Whitneys, 

-  and  Pullmans  for  their  heavy 

rruption  campaign  funds  is  certainly  presumptive  evi- 

dence  that  the  old  parties  are  mortgaged  to  wealth  from 

the  beginning.     (Vide  Senator  Chandler's  charges  against 

Mark  Eanna.) 

"Rep  al  of  laws  in  the  various  legislatures  in  the  inter- 

alth,  which  regulated  the  employment  of  child 

female  labor.     Note  also  the  recent  increase  in  the 

•  United  States  marshals  to  $4,500  a  year — more 

than  the  average  pay  of  governors. 

"The  investigation  ordered  by  the  48th  Congress  of  the 
•rrnous  defalcations  under  the  Grant  administrations 


6g  LEGISLATION. 

shows  that  more  than  H  million  dollan 
tween  1869  and  1883,  and  only  aq  ■  ""I1""1  « 

recovered.    This  occurred  in  the  Bigot! 
bursing  office  of  the  Btate  department  aloj 
Senator  Davis,  of  West  Virginia,  goi  acomm 
ed  to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  I 
the  testimony  laid  before  this  committe<  ritlj 

the  examination  of  the  ledgers  of  the 
shown  that  2>52IS  erasures  and  alteratii 
and  that  $247,768,341  had  been  Btolen,  oi  m  un- 

accounted for.'' 

Why  spend  time  trying  to  prove  Eacta  thai  everyb 
aware  of?    All  of  these  chai  Q  be  pi 

half  cover  the  ground.     At  the  annual  din 
"Southern  Society."   recently  ex-Justice    A 
Wyck  said:    "The  sale  of  the  law  is  the  crying  evil 
day."   Of  course.    And  everybody  agrees  with  him.    II 
is  the  statement  of  an  ex-judge  saying  thai  la\. 
in  this  country.    But  we  all  know  it.    None  i 

But  Plutocracy  has  other  ways  of  attaining  ,  in 

addition  to  those  cited.     When  a  lobby  and  ion 

fails  to  secure  its  wants,  Plutocracy  resort  aother 

pediency,  and  that  is  the  injunction.     The  injunction  in 
most  cases  is  not  only  wrong,  but  absolutely  illegal.     1 
the  acme  of  modern  rascality,  and  one  of  the  greatest  vio- 
lations of  American  Liberty.     Never  in  the  history  of 
America  has  there  been  anything  to  favor  the  (  'ike 

the  Injunction. 


LEGISLATION.  63 

Take  the  injunction  issued  by  Judge  Jackson,  for- 
bidding  anyone  to  help  the  striking  coal  miners  in  any 
way,  shape*  or  manner  whatever.  Xo  one  even  should  be 
permitted  to  give  them  food.  Business  men  go  to  each 
other's  aid  in  panics  and  reverses,  and  arc  many  times 
tided  difficulties.     But   according  to  Judge 

Jackson,  working  men  arc  to  be  denied  this  same  privilege, 
and  casl  into  jail  if  caught  doing  it.  Class  Legislation 
ha-  become  unpopular,  so  the  Class  Injunction  is  substi- 
tuted. 

But  the  broken-spirited  miners,  their  weeping  wives 
and  Btarving  children,  together  with  the  thousands  of  poor 
that  will  suffer  this  winter,  will  -end  a  wail  and  prayer  to 
heaven  againsl  these  injustices  thai  shall  echo  in  the  ears 

and  hearts  of  all  Americans  that  shall  not  die  but  shall 
increase  until  it  ends  in  the  roar  of  the  great  Revolution. 

I  quote  the  St.  Louis  Star  in  part: 
"Press  Dispatch  to  The  St.  Louis  Star. 

"PARKEBSBUBG,  \Y.  Va.,  July  24.— There  was  the 
nm-t  intense  interest  in  the  crowded  room  of  the  United 
States  district  court  this  morning,  when  Judge  Jackson 
began  reading  his  lengthy  decision  declaring  'Mother' 
Mary  Jones,  angel  of  the  miners,  and  seven  other  organ- 
izers of  the  United  Mine  Workers,  and  four  Hungarians, 
t )  be  guilty  of  contempt  in  disregarding  his  injunction  of 
ae  10.  against  holding  a  meeting  or  creating  a  demon- 
it ion  at  or  near  the  Pinnickinnick  mine  of  the  Clarks- 


64  LEGISLATION. 

burg  Fuel  Company,  or  near  the  residence  of  miners  at 
work  there. 

"Judge  Jackson's  huge  frame  shook  with  emotion  ;i>  he 
dramatically  emphasized  portions  of  his  decision. 

"He  sentenced  the  defendants  as  follow 

"Thomas  Haggerty,  90  days  in  jail;  Win.  Morgan, 
Bernard  Kice,  Peter  Wilson,  W.  A.  Blakely,  George  Ba- 
con, Thomas  Laskavish,  60  days  each. 

"Judge  Jackson  stated  that  the  defendants  would  not 
he  sent  to  the  same  jail. 

"District  Attorney  Blizzard  sprung  a  sensation  by  im- 
mediately filing  an  affidavit  that  W.  B.  Wilson,  secretary 
of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  had  violated  a 
restraining  order  at  Clarksburg  and  Fairmont,  by  making 
inflammatory  speeches.  His  arrest  was  asked.  .Indge 
Jackson  made  an  order  that  Wilson  be  brought  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  court.  Wilson  is  said  to  be  in  Indian- 
apolis. 

"  'Mother'  Jones,  it  is  said,  will  receive  a  stiff  fine  and 
will  not  be  jailed. 

"'Mother'  Jones  was  the  center  of  interest.  She  was 
surrounded  by  the  other  defendants  and  Vice  President 
Lewis,  of  the  United  Mine  Workers.  The  defendants 
were  surprised  at  the  decision  and  are  bitter.  The  miners 
agree  that  this  is  the  most  effective  blow  that  could  be 
struck  against  the  men's  cause  in  their  attempt  to  get  out 
the  12,000  miners  in  the  Fairmount  coal  fields. 


LEGISLATION.  65 

"Press  Dispatch  to  The  St.  Louis  Star. 

"Parkersburg,  W.  Va.,  July  24. — Mother  Jones  gave  out 
the  following  signed  statement: 

"  'I  have  been  asked  what  I  would  do  in  case  I  am  fined. 
I  have  no  money  myself  to  pay  a  fine,  and  will  not  allow 
anybody  else  to  pay  it  for  me.  There  shall  be  no  compro- 
mise in  my  case.  I  shall  not  surrender  any  of  my  Ameri- 
can principles.  I  want  the  people  to  understand  that  I 
will  not  surrender  any  of  my  rights  to  courts.  This  is  a 
fight  for  justice.  Abraham  Lincoln  fought  to  have  the 
slaves  freed.  The  blood  of  15  miners  was  shed  in  Illinois 
before  we  got  justice  there.  Great  battles  are  not  won  in 
a  day.    I'm  not  afraid  to  go  to  jail. 

"  '(Signed)  "MOTHER"  MAEY  JONES.'  " 

So  injunction  will  last  for  a  time,  but  only  long  enough 
for  the  people  to  become  aroused.  Abraham  Lincoln 
said,  "You  can  fool  some  of  the  people  all  of  the  time,  and 
you  can  fool  all  of  the  people  some  of  the  time,  but  you 
cannot  fool  all  of  the  people  all  of  the  time." 

Two  or  three  days  before  the  close  of  session,  and  about 
a  year  after  I  took  my  seat,  the  anti-trust  bill  I  had  pre- 
pared was  taken  up  and  read.  I  made  a  two-hours'  speech, 
telling  of  my  experience  with  trusts,  and  the  experience 
of  others,  together  with  all  the  facts  and  data  I  could 
summon.  A  few  short  speeches  were  made  in  favor  of  it 
and  a  few  against  it.  A  vote  was  taken  and  it  was  lost. 
The  attitude  of  the  members  during  the  proceedings  was 

(5) 


66  LEGISLATION. 

that  of  unconcern.     Like   proceedings  had   taken   plfl 
many  times  before.    Why  should  they  can 
"It  is  hard  to  talk  of  clear,  cold  facte  when  the  h< 

cries  out  against  injustice.    II  is  hard  to  refrain  from  tell- 
ing the  many  personal  experiences  through  which  [  passed. 
For  the  present  I  must  hasten  on   to  more  important 
things  than  my  being  a  member  of  Congress.     I   m  I 
briefly  pass  over  the  rest  of  my  term  in  Congrc^ 
election  to  office,  and  the  two  futile  years  -pent   th< 
again.    The  second  term  was  a  repetition  of  thi  -a 

failure  of  myself  and  others  to  strike  a  blow  at  trusts  in 
any  way,  shape  or  manner  whatever.  It  was  ;i  hard  strug- 
gle— this  two-year  fight — and  filled  with  many  incident-. 
The  same  lobbying  and  enthusiastic  interest  in  behalf 
the  moneyed  interests,  and  the  same  indifference  as  to  the 
welfare  of  the  people  prevailed. 

After  two  terms  had  passed  I  began  to  doubt  whether 
I  ever  would  be  able  to  do  any  good,  but  made  up  my  mind 
to  accept  a  third  term  if  the  people  chose  to  re-elect  me. 

And  now  comes  the  harrowing  tale.  I  was  renominated 
and  began  an  earnest  canvas  to  win  the  election.  My  op- 
ponent was  the  lawyer  who  first  came  to  see  me  as  an 
agent  for  the  trust.  I  remembered  his  face  well  and  still 
had  his  card,  the  one  he  gave  me  when  directing  me  to 
write  him  in  case  I  wished  to  sell  out  to  the  trust. 

To  me  the  whole  thing  was  clear  as  day.  He  had  been  a 
faithful  servant  of  the  trust;  they  had  tried  him  and  were 
now  satisfied  he  was  capable  of  representing  them  in  Con- 


LEGISLATION.  67 

gress.  Furthermore,  they  would  kill  two  birds  with  one 
stone.  They  would  defeat  and  get  me  out  of  the  way.  I 
had  had  my  eye  teeth  cut;  knew  how  the  trusts  worked, 
and  never  for  an  instant  doubted  what  their  plans 
would  be.  And  subsequent  events  proved  me  correct. 
And  I  knew  more.  I  knew  he  would  go  to  Congress.  I 
would  win,  but  victory  would  be  his.  And  I  was  right 
again. 

But  I  made  a  hard  canvass.  Myself  and  friends  worl 
like  Trojans.  I  knew  I  would  lose.  But  I  intended  to 
make  my  enemies  do  all  they  possibly  could,  and  spend 
as  much  money  as  possible  in  defeating  me.  And  this  they 
did.  They  spent  money  like  water.  But  it  was  an  object 
lesson  to  the  people.  I  called  attention  to  the  fact,  showed 
the  people  that  he  was  an  agent  for  the  trust  that  had 
ruined  me,  and  showed  how  the  trust  wished  to  send  him 
to  Congress  as  a  tool,  while  getting  me  out  of  the  way. 

He  denied  he  was  working  for  anybody's  interests  save 
those  of  the  people.  He  said  if  he  ever  came  to  see  me 
on  business  it  was  a  single  visit  for  a  single  fee,  such  as 
lawyers  are  called  upon  to  perform  hundreds  of  timi 

My  opponent,  backed  by  the  trust,  had  to  resort  to  ev- 
ery trick  and  fraud  conceivable  in  order  to  win.  They 
stuffed  the  ballots,  bribed  the  judges  and  clerks,  used  in- 
timidation at  times,  and  by  every  hook  and  crook  fought 
to  attain  their  ends. 

Does  the  reader  think  this  extraordinary?  Does  he 
think  it  unusual?    Then  he  is  mistaken.     These  thi] 


68  LEGISLATION 

have  occurred  many  times  over.     It  has  becor  om- 

mon  occurrence.  I  will  quote  the  St.  Louis  Star  in  re- 
citing the  Butler  case  of  St.  Louis  in  L901.  However,  I 
wish  to  say  that  because  Butler  was  a  Democrat.  I  do  apt 
claim  the  Republicans  are  better  than  the  Democi 
Not  at  all.  They  are  both  equally  bad.  However,  the 
following  account  is  very  correct: 

'"Special  to  The  St.  Louis  Star. 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  June  28.— The  Beai  in  Con- 
gress from  the  Twelfth  Missouri  District  will  be  decla 
vacant  this  afternoon,  and  James  J.  Butler  of  St.  Louis 
will  be  ousted. 

"A  new  election  will  have  to  be  held  in  the  district  to 
fill  the  vacancy.    Butler  will  be  ousted  as  a  resull  of  the 

gigantic  frauds,  which  were  perpetrated  under  the  in- 
famous Nesbit  law.  The  contest  was  instituted  by  Wil- 
liam Horton,  who  was  the  Republican  nominee. 

"Saturday's  programme  in  the  Horton-Butler  contest 
includes  an  hour's  speech  by  Mr.  Butler,  who  will  close 
the  debate  for  his  side. 

"Judge  Taylor,  chairman  of  the  contest  committee,  will 
close  the  proceedings  with  a  speech,  and  it  is  expected 
that  a  vote  will  be  reached  by  4  p.  m. 

"During  Friday's  debate  Congressman  Bartholdt  made 
a  strong  speech  denouncing  the  gigantic  frauds  perpe- 
trated by  the  Democratic  party  in  Missouri.  Congress- 
man Bartholdt  said  in  part: 


LEGISLATION.  69 

GANGS  OF  REPEATERS. 
"  'Hundreds  of  citizens  have  seen  these  frauds  perpe- 
trated with  their  own  eyes.  They  have  seen  the  repeaters 
as  they  were  driven  in  wagon  loads  from  polling  place  to 
polling  place,  they  have  seen  them  enter,  they  have  seen 
the  doors  closed  behind  them,  and  they  have  seen  them 
emerge  after  their  nefarious  work  was  done.  In  many 
places  they  saw  how  the  Republican  challengers  and 
judges  and  clerks  were  ejected,  and  they  saw  how  all  this 
was  done  under  the  very  eyes,  with  the  connivance  of,  and 
in  some  cases,  under  the  protection  of  the  police.  This 
is  not  circumstantial  evidence,  but  what  I  have  just  re- 
cited are  stubborn  facts  which  the  minority  of  the  com- 
mittee by  no  amount  of  sophistry  can  explain  away.  There 
were  about  a  hundred  of  those  repeaters,  or  "Indians,"  as 
they  are  called  in  slander  of  our  aborgines.  On  election 
day  they  were  divided  in  smaller  bands,  and,  each  under 
the  leadership  of  a  chief,  sent  out  to  do  the  work  for  which 
they  had  been  hired.  The  preparations  for  these  election 
crimes  had  been  so  openly  and  boldly  carried  on  that 
weeks  in  advance  the  Republican  leaders  were  fully  ad- 
vised of  the  plans  of  the  Democratic  bosses.  We  knew 
that  the  registration  lists  had  been  padded  with  thousands 
of  fraudulent  names,  and  that  each  one  of  those  names 
was  to  be  voted.  They  were  registered  in  large  numbers 
from  stables,  saloons,  coal  yards,  bawdy  houses  and  va- 
cant lots.  From  the  stables  of  the  Excelsior  Hauling 
Company— an   enterprise   controlled  by  Edward  Butler, 


70  LEGISLATION. 

contestee's  father— ninety-seven   men   wen 

though  it  is  a  notorious  fact  that  not  more  than  two  01 

three  men  usually  live  there.    To  what  extent  fraudulent 
registration  has  been  carried  on  was  BhOwn  later  wl 
19,900  names  were  dropped  from  the  voters'  lisi 
ELECTION  WAS  STOLEN. 
"'We  were  advised,  I  repeal  it,  of  •  letail  o!  the 

scheme  to  steal  the  election,  but  under  the  cireums! 
the  Eepublicans  were  well  nigh  helpless.     The  elecl 
machinery  and  the  police  organization   were  completely 
under  the  domination  of  the  Democratic  party.     Should 
the  Eepublicans  resort  to  force  to  prevent  the  perpetra- 
tion of  the  frauds?     Fortunately  calmer  counsels 
vailed,  and  as  the  only  alternative  left  this  plan  was  finally 
agreed  upon.     That  registered  letters   be  ad'  I    t-> 

those  suspected  of  false  registration,  and  warrants  be 
issued  against  all  the  persons  who  could  not  thus  be 
found.  These  warrants  were  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
deputy  sheriffs  to  be  specially  appointed  for  that  purpose. 
It  was  an  honest  and  perfectly  legal  plan  to  prevent  crime. 
Of  course,  but  a  small  percentage  of  the  1,500  registered 
letters  which  were  sent  out  could  be  delivered,  but  when 
the  deputy  sheriffs  on  the  morning  of  the  election  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  polls  with  their  warrants  they 
were  told  by  the  police  to  move  on.  A  State  law  which 
provides  that  all  citizens  except  the  election  officials,  the 
police  and  those  who  want  to  vote  must  keep  100  feet 
away  from  the  polls,  was  enforced  by  the  police  even 


LEGISLATION.  n 

against  the  officers  of  the  law,  in  which  capacity  the 
deputy  sheriffs  undoubtedly  acted.  Under  these  circum- 
Btancee  no  arrests  could  be  made,  because  a  fraudulent 
voter  could  be  identified  only  when  inside  of  the  poll  he 
announced  his  alleged  name. 

Had  the  presence  of  a  deputy  sheriff  been  permitted, 
he  would  have  immediately  arrested  his  man  and  prob- 
ably the  whole  conspiracy  would  have  been  nipped  in  the 
bud.  It  was  for  this  reason  that,  as  a  result  of  a  dark 
lantern  conference  at  the  Southern  Hotel,  orders  were 
issued  to  the  police  to  keep  the  deputy  sheriffs  away  from 
the  polls.  These  orders  were  carried  out  to  the  letter 
at  each  polling  place.  The  last  obstacle  to  the  boldly  ar- 
ranged orgies  of  fraud  was  thus  swept  away,  and  a  new 
chapter  was  added  to  the  election  history  of  fair  St.  Louis, 
which  brings  the  blush  of  shame  and  indignation  to  the 
cheek  of  every  good  citizen,  irrespective  of  party  affilia- 
tion. 

DEMOCRATIC  TRICKERY. 
"  'Let  me  tell  you  something  about  that  law.  It  is  as 
neat  a  piece  of  partisan  legislation  as  has  ever  been 
brought  to  the  notice  of  this  House  or  the  country.  It  ap- 
plies to  St.  Louis  alone.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  the 
great  metropolis  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  abreast  with 
the  best  sentiment  of  the  country,  had  dared  to  give  to 
McKinley  15,000  majority,  while  most  of  the  rural  dis- 
tricts of  Missouri  had  rolled  up  their  old-time  Democratic 
majorities.    This  was  bitter,  so  the  bosses  went  to  the  Leg- 


72  LEGISLATION. 

islature  and  asked  that  SI.  Louis  In'  made  Democrat 
law.    Troubled  by  their  consciences  and  afraid  <>f  public 
opinion,  some  of  the  Democrat  ic  members  balked,  bui  I 
were  finally  whipped  into  line.    The  Nesbil  law  \ 
and  it  was  a  great  moment,  because  from   the  birth 
Nesbitism  dates  the  decadence  of  the  Missouri  Demi 
It  was  giving  notice  to  all  the  people  of  the  State  thai 
Democratic  majorities  were  no  longer  the  natural  expi 
sion  of  public  opinion,  but  must  henceforth  be  maintaii 
by  artificial  devices.     You  see?     But   what  air  the  j 
visions  of  the  law?    Well,  the  Governor  appoints  th 
Election  Commissioners,  not  four,  as  in  some  Republican 
States,  so  that  two  might  be  appointed  for  each   party. 
Oh,  no,  only  three — two  Democrats  and  one  Republican — 
and  the  Eepublican,  too,  is  one  of  his  own  choosing.     No 
matter  how  good  a  man  the  representative  of  the  minority 
party  may  be,  you  know  that  a  pair  always  beats  ace  high. 
That  is  the  secret  of  the  law. 

"The  rest  is  easy.  The  Commissioners  have  comph 
charge  of  the  registration,  locate  the  polling  places  and 
appoint  the  judges  and  clerks  of  election.  It  is  true  that 
the  Eepublican  judges  and  clerks  shall  be  recommended 
by  the  City  Central  Committee  of  that  party,  the  same 
as  the  Democratic  election  officials,  but  there  is  no  pro- 
vision to  prevent  the  Commissioners  from  arbitrarily  sub- 
stituting other  names  for  those  recommended  by  the  party 
committee.  Wholesale  substitutions  of  this  kind  were 
made  in  the  Twelfth  District.     According  to  the  law, 


LEGISLATION.  73 

tht  Be  substitutes  should  have  been  Republicans,  but  what 
party  they  really  belonged  to  was  shown  when  the  ballots 
were  examined.  Fifty-four  of  these  alleged  Republicans 
voted  the  Democratic  ticket  outright,  three  scratched 
Horton,  and  three  voted  for  the  Third  Party  candidate. 
Here  we  have  the  reason,  too,  why  the  election  law  of 
1895,  the  passage  of  which  had  been  forced  through  the 
legislature  by  public  opinion  and  a  Republican  lower 
house,  was  supplanted  by  the  partisan  measure  I  am  just 
discussing.  It  is  because  under  the  old  law  Republican 
judges  and  clerks  were  sure  to  be  appointed.  Why,  this 
gave  the  Republicans  an  equal  chance  at  the  polls,  there- 
fore would  never  do.' " 

This  is  but  a  single  instance;  perhaps  the  reader  can 
recall  other  similar  cases,  for  elections  are  carried  on  by 
fraud  all  over  the  country. 

Another  well  known  case  took  place  in  Ohio.  The 
State  Legislature  was  to  elect  a  Senator.  A  large  corpo- 
ration wished  to  place  their  man  in  office,  and  in  order 
to  do  so,  took  certain  members  of  the  Legislature  aside  to 
reason  with  them.  A  special  room  was  secured,  and  the 
smooth  and  oily-tongued  agents  of  the  corporation  in- 
vited the  legislators,  one  by  one,  to  come  and  be  rea- 
soned with.  Afterwards,  when  the  scandal  was  brought 
up  in  court,  some  of  the  legislators  testified  that  this 
room  contained  vast  quantities  of  money.  Shelves  were 
stacked  with  paper  and  silver  currency.  Boxes  stood 
around  the  room  filled  to  overflowing.    Tables  were  cov- 


u  LEGISLATION. 

ered  with  package  bundle*  and  bags,  until  • 

looked  like  a  money  vault. 

However,  none  of  these  legislator.!  adr, 
ceived  any  of  this  money  or  were  paidal  all  tor  tin- 
But  it  was  noticed  that  after  the  election,  and  thi 
poration  had  put  its  man  in  office,  these  differ* 
lators  seemed  to  be  very  flush  with  money.     8 
pecially,  who  had  been  very  hard  up;  others  who  had 
gages  on  their  home,;    all     Beemed  prosp 
bought  houses,  paid  off  their  mortgagee  and  bout 

in  carriages.    But  there  was  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the 
public  who  paid  for  it. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  Tammany   Hall,  N. 
number  of  election  frauds  it  has  perp  ■!  is  appall 

The  name  has  become  a  synonym  for  fraud  throi  Ihe 

land.    To  specify  or  enumerate  its  Iniquities  would  be 
wearisome. 

So  then  my  defeat  by  fraud  was  only  one  of  many,  and 
nothing  remained  but  to  accept  it.  However,  the  bittei 
thing  about  it  all  was  that  the  whole  community  to  a  man 
did  not  rise  up  in  indignation  and  take  action  in  the  mat- 
ter. They  were  being  wronged,  the  ballot  violated  and 
American  rights  and  liberties  trampled  upon.  Yet  with 
the  great  mass  of  people  it  ceased  to  be  thought  of  after 
a  few  weeks.  Still  there  were  quite  a  number  who  real- 
ized the  enormity  af  the  whole  thing,  and  foresaw  what 
such  things  portended.  Several  of  the  good  citizens  wept 
and  one  friend  actuallrtook  sick,  so  much  was  he  wrought 


LEGISLATION".  75 

up  about  it.  All  of  this,  however,  can  do  no  good.  The 
voters  must  rise  up  together  and  with  one  accord  hurl 
iniquity  from  the  high  places.  Will  this  ever  be?  Some 
day,  perhaps.  But  not  before  this  country  sees  terrible 
times.  Some  day  the  people  may  think,  act  and  correct 
these  evils,  but  it  will  be  after  the  shoe  has  pinched  hard 
— woefully  hard. 

I  had  saved  some  of  my  salary  during  the  two  terms  I 
served  at  Congress,  and  so  felt  I  had  better  take  a  little 
rest,  think  over  the  strange  events  of  the  past  few  years 
and  carefully  lay  my  plans  for  the  future. 

As  time  passed  I  was  siezed  with  a  desire  to  move  away. 
Perhaps  my  luck  would  change  and  I  might  yet  be  useful 
to  society  in  some  way.  Wife  did  not  like  the  idea,  but 
said  she  would  acquiesce  if  I  thought  it  for  the  best. 

I  really  did  think  it  for  the  best.  I  was  born  and  raised 
in  Ohio  and  had  lived  there  all  my  life.  Perhaps  a  change 
would  do  good.  Even  if  I  did  not  move  very  far  away,  to 
go  at  hast  into  another  state  might  be  a  wise  move,  and 
possibly  make  me  contented. 

The  result  was  I  determined  to  move  my  family  to  St. 
Louis.  Some  of  my  friends  laughingly  said  I  selected  St. 
Louis  to  get  rid  of  the  bad  company  I  was  in  and  be- 
cause I  believed  St.  Louisians  were  saints,  as  the  name  im- 
plied. 

However,  St.  Louis  was  decided  upon,  and  we  soon 
were  ready  to  go.  I  had  some  friends  in  that  city  to  whom 
I  nad  written  and  who  had  made  arrangements  for  me. 


76  LEGISLATION. 

The  change  was  made  and  before  long  I  had  a  a*uglittl< 

home  among  the  people  with  whom!  had  cast  i 
I  have  since  learned  to  love  this  city  and  all  o 
pie.   I  live  here  still  and  exped  to  the  real  of  mj 

And  yet  it  is  like  all  big  cities  in  on< 
tiie  hands  of  boodling  rascals.    I  moved  there  j 
some  of  the  most  sensational  frauds  thai 
of  were  perpetrated. 

The  thing  that  naturally  interested  me  mod  «a-  the 
spring  election  of  1901. 

1  thought  1  knew  something  aboul  fraudulenl  electioi 
but  this  St.  Louis  election  surely  musl  have  bui 
thing  previously  attempted  in  the  United   3  The 

sights  witnessed  by  me  were  witnessed  by  hundreds  <»f 
other  citizens  and  no  doubt  were  published  in 
paper  in  every  town  and  city.    Some  of  the  things  d 
were  so  flagrant  and  bold  that  citizens  rubbed  their  i 
as  though  to  make  sure  they  were  awake  and   in  their 
right  mind.    And  yet  all  of  these  people  could  testify 
under  oath  as  to  what  they  saw,  though  all  had  belie 
before  this  that  such  things  were  impossib 

But  to  briefly  describe  it.  The  Democrats  had  passed 
the  Nesbit  Law,  which  gave  the  Governor  of  the  Btate 
power  to  appoint  the  three  election  commissioners  who 
had  complete  control  of  all  elections.  Of  cour>e  be  ap- 
pointed two  Democrats  and  one  "Republican.  These  three 
fixed  the  polling  places  and  appointed  all  of  the  jui 
and  clerks.    Further,  the  Governor  has  the  appointing  of 


LEGISLATION.  77 

the  Police  Commissioners,  and  of  course  he  sees  to  it  that 
they  are  Democrats. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Democratic  party  was  well 
equipped  to  carry  out  any  plan  whatever,  by  controlling 
both  the  Election  and  Police  Commissioners. 

Their  plans  were  deep  and  cunningly  laid  and  boldly 
carried  out,  for  the  black  record  of  that  day  will  scarcely 
be  equalled  again. 

They  began  operations  early  and  kept  them  up  late. 
Wagon  loads  of  hoodlums  and  thugs  were  driven  about  the 
city  as  repeaters,  others  were  marched  in  gangs  of  forty 
or  fifty  from  polling  place  to  polling  place  and  voted  again 
and  again,  using  names  given  them  on  slips  of  paper. 
These  ballot  staffers  were  called  "Indians."  They  even 
referred  to  themselves  as  "Indians."  To  carry  this  joke 
further,  a  wagon  load  of  these  thugs  were  dressed  up  like 
Indians  and  driven  through  the  heart  of  the  city.  A 
painted  sign  bore  this  legend,  "Butler's  Indians."  As 
they  rode  about  the  city  they  discharged  their  revolvers 
in  the  air  and  shouted  and  whooped  like  real  Eed  men. 
They  were  so  secure  in  their  boldness  that  it  was  fun. 
However,  this  latter  wasn't  the  worst  feature.  It  only 
showed  their  confidence  and  scorn  of  secrecy.  The  real 
work  they  did,  and  for  which  they  should  have  been  sent 
to  the  penitentiary,  was  the  desecration  of  the  ballot  and 
the  theft  of  the  election.  I  drove  about  the  city  in  a 
buggy  during  the  day,  following  different  gangs  and 
watching  different  polls.     There  was  something  horrible 


78  LEGISLATION. 

and  morbidly  fascinating  in  thi  hts,  especially    W  to 

me.    It  made  me  feel  as  though  an  icy  hand  were  clutch- 

ing  at  my  heart. 
In  the  first  place,  these  hoodlums  and  tl  oked  like 

ex-convicts.    Vice  and  sin  were  depicted  on  their  com 
nances  and  in  their  every  movement.    And  yel  I  tho 
these  are  only  the  tools.    In  the  sight  of  I  ook 

no  Blacker  than  the  well-dressed,  well-kempl  rascals  wh< 
will  they  are  executing.     Oul   of  harm's  way,  drinking 
and  smoking  good  wine  and  cigai  'it  be  found  tin- 

real  criminals;  the  real  cause  of  this  day's  work. 

I  would  not  be  surprised  if  a  number  of    thugs    had 
been  brought  from  the  workhouse  and  penitentiary,  to 
execute  this  diabolical  task.     As  they  slouched  aloi 
actually  saw  them  hold  up  citizens  and  go  through  t! 
pockets.     Why  were   they  not    afraid   to  commit    th 
robberies  in  broad  daylight?    They  knew  the  police  v. 
under  instructions. 

When  they  reached  a  poll  they  entered  and  voted  und.-r 
an  assumed  name.  And  this  was  repeated  a  number  of 
times  by  each  "Indian"  before  he  left  that  poll.  The 
name  assumed  was  always  one  given  them  on  a  slip  of 
paper,  and  was  sometimes  a  legal  vote  of  a  man  in  that 
precinct.  When  that  man  came  to  vote  he  found  his 
name  had  been  voted.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done.  If 
he  telephoned  the  Election  Commissioners  he  received 
answer  that  they  were  out.  If  he  went  down  to  head- 
quarters he  was  told  that  an  investigation  would  be  made. 


LEGISLATION.  79 

That  was  all.    He  might  fume  all  day,  but  it  would  be  in 
vain. 

Sometimes  the  "Indians''  met  with  difficulties.  At  one 
poll  one  of  these  fellows  took  a  name  from  his  hat,  and, 
studying  the  slip,  went  up  to  vote.  However,  the  judges 
and  clerks  told  him  that  voter  was  dead.  Going  back  to 
the  leader  of  the  gang  he  said,  with  many  oaths  and  the 
vilest  profanity:  "Give  me  another  name;  this  man  is 
dead.*'  It  was  furnished  him,  and  he  went  back  and 
voted  it.  The  police  were  right  there  and  saw  the  whole 
occurence,  but  said  nothing.  In  many  cases  honest  voters 
were  driven  back  to  make  room  for  these  "Indians."  The 
result  was  that  in  the  morning  many  workingmen  had  to 
leave  in  order  to  get  to  work  in  time  and  come  back  in 
the  evening  to  vote.  But  the  evening  was  too  late.  Dur- 
ing the  day  their  names  were  fraudulently  voted. 

In  another  polling  place  a  ballot  stuffer  presented  a 
name  to  vote  on.  The  judge  said,  "Why,  that  is  my 
name;  you  can't  vote  on  that.*'  The  repeater  said  it  was  a 
lie  and  insisted  on  voting  the  name.  A  fight  ensued,  in 
which  all  of  the  judges  and  clerks  were  driven  into  the 
street.  The  "Indians"  then  took  charge  of  the  poll  and 
the  books.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  precinct  went  Dem- 
ocratic by  a  large  majority. 

In  every  case  they  were  upheld  by  the  police.  In  many 
instances  the  police  clubbed  and  drove  back  honest  voters. 

In  some  precincts  it  was  known  that,  with  scarcely  any 
exception,  the  voters  were  all  Republican.    They  worked 


* 


80  LEGISLATION. 

a  different  game  here.    Early  in  the  morni] 

started,  the  judges,  the  clerks  and  challenger*    *ere  all 

arrested,  and  the  polls  closed  up  by   the   police.      Ap- 
peals to  the  Commissioners  were  in  vain.     The  pollfl  v 
kept  closed  until  late  in  the  afternoon.    Then  tie 
opened.    The  Democrats  and  ballot  Btuffere  wire  admit 
first,  and,  there  being  an  immense  crowd,  only  a  Inn 
number  could  be  admitted  before  closing  time. 

The  police  were  under  instructions  and  had  to  do 
they  were  told  or  lose  their  positions.     They   in   many 
cases  deplored  the  injustice  of  it  all,  but  knew  thi 
to  obey.    It  is  well  known  that  every  police  officer  <>n  the 
force  must  belong  to  the  Jefferson  Club  or  lose  hia 
sition.    This  Jefferson  Club  bids  fair  to  become  a-  str 
and  notorious  as  Tammany  Hall,  New  York. 

I  wish  the  reader  to  understand  that  I  do  not  pick  out 
the  Democrats  to  score  and  expose  alone.  Later  I  will 
show  the  Republicans  up  just  as  bad.  1  only  aim  to  tell 
the  truth,  and  go  directly  to  the  bottom  in  order  to  find 
why  such  things  exist. 

And  why  is  it?  Why  is  the  popular  will  defeated? 
Why  these  fraudulent  elections?  Simply  because  Plu- 
tocracy wishes  to  place  its  tools  in  office.  Simply  to  have 
its  servants  in  position  and  power  to  do  its  will,  and 
where  they  can  make  laws  at  their  master's  bidding. 

After  fraudulent  elections  place  the  tools  of  the  corpor- 
ations in  power,  is  it  reasonable  to  hope  they  will  legis- 
late for  the  public  good?    It  is  absurd  to  expect  such  a 


LEGISLATION.  81 

thing.  One  might  as  well  expect  to  gather  grapes  from 
thorns  and  figs  from  thistles.  This  condition  of  affairs 
prevails  in  every  large  city,  in  every  state  and  in  the  na- 
tional legislative  hall  of  this- country. 

Here  then  we  have  one  more  factor  at  work,  and  the 
result  will  be  to  hasten  the  Revolution.  It  is  true  the 
people  might  get  together  and  in  one  or  two  elections 
place  their  own  representatives  in  power.  But  it  is  too 
much  to  hope  this  will  be  done  before  the  great  disaster 
comes,  because  Plutocracy  is  careful  to  see  that  the  peo- 
ple are  always  divided  on  some  side  issue,  and  if  they  can 
keep  them  divided  they  can  keep  themselves  in  power. 
.  But  the  public  is  getting  indignant  and  restless.  Those 
thoroughly  awake  are  arousing  others.  The  alarm  is 
spreading.  The  public,  while  long  suffering  and  unneces- 
,-arily  slow  to  take  action  against  any  wrong,  is  also  un- 
necessarily severe  when  it" does  begin  to  act.  Already  the 
strain  is  telling.  Something  will  have  to  give  way.  Is 
your  ear  to  the  ground?  Do  you  hear  the  snapping,  and 
rumbling,  as  the  foundations  of  this  Republic  are  being 
undermined  ? 

But  the  clash  between  the  people  and  Plutocracy:    This 
will  be  reserved  for  future  consideration. 


(6) 


CHAPTER  V. 

CORRUPTION,  BRIBERY   AND  PERJURY. 


primes  of  Public  Servants:  Their  Brazen  Effrontery  and 
Contempt  of  All  Oaths  and  Obligations. 


.  .We  have  all  listened  to  the  honeyed  promises  of  candi- 
dates before  election,  and  been  deceived  again  and  again 
by  their  pledges.    Our  representatives  are  pat 
virtue  and  honor  before  election;  but  after,  Buch  ai 

and  far  between. 
Upon  the  strength  of  their  promisee  we  place  them  in 

office;  first  one  kind,  then  another.     They  arc  all  alike. 
But  we  don't  learn.    When  in  office  the  people  arc  usually 

forgotten,   and  only   selfish    interest-    proniot-  Very 

often  the  erstwhile  virtuous  politician  does  «  iian 

promote  his  selfish  interests.     He  becomes  corrupt  and 

criminal,  ready  to  accept  bribes  and  sell  legislation  with 

as  little  compunetion  as  though  it  were  a  commodity  for 

that  very  purpose.    Yes,  and  many  cases  have  been  known, 

where  politicians  have  gone  into  politics  with  that  avowed 

purpose  in  view,  spending  ten  times  as  much  as  their 

years'  salary  to  secure  the  office,  knowing  that  more  than 

that  sum  can  be  made  back  by  the  sale  of  their  influence 

and  votes. 

(82) 


CORRUPTION  AXD  PERJURY.  83 

In  Toledo,  recently,  the  grand  jury  disclosed  a  frightful 
state  of  affairs.  City  and  railroad  officials  were  found 
guilty  of  corruption  and  bribery.  The  City  Attorney, 
the  Assistant  Street  Commissioner,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Revision  and  others  were  indicted. 

Not  many  years  since  similar  disclosures  were  made  in 
Detroit,  Mich. 

Gov.  Hazen  S.  Pingree  addressed  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury Club,  of  New  York,  on  the  subject  "Ten  Years  of 
Municipal  Progr.  Among  other  things  he  said: 

''Detroit  was  long  ruled  by  the  politicians  until  at 
length  the  leader-  grew  reckless.  Streets  were  given 
away  to  car  companies,  to  gas  companies  and  other  cor- 
porations. You  could  not  drive  without  paying  toll.  The 
city  was  half-lighted  and  at  exorbitant  rates.  What  little 
paving  there  was  cost  twice  as  much  as  it  was  worth.  The 
paving  ring  was  powerful.  Sewers  built  had  no  outlet. 
There  were  long  tracks  of  unoccupied  land  in  the  middle 
of  the  city  held  by  men  for  speculation.  The  cars  drawn 
by  horses  were  unhealthy  and  uncomfortable.  Parks  were 
given  away  for  buildings. 

"In  eight  years  all  this  has  been  remedied,  and  today 
Detroit  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities  of  the  United 
States. 

"I  was  elected  by  the  most  influential  people  of  the 
city.  Directly  after  I  was  elected  I  discovered  that  the 
railroads  were  paying  less  than  their  lawful  taxes.  I  said 
so,  and  the  railroad  support  was  lost  to  me.    I  found  the 


84  CORRUPTION   AMi  PERJ1  BY. 

gas  companies  charging  exorbitant   ra 

thus  losing  their  support.     I  found  bankei 

with  the  city  funds.    I  denounced  them,  and  tl  d  1 

was  unsafe.    I  attacked  the  Burface  railroads,  and  t! 

called  me  an  anarchist.     I  was  fouT  timi 

I  lost  a  lot  of  old  friends,  hut  I  was  elected  b 

majority  each  time.    It  is  something  to  be  proud  o 

the  influential  classes  turn  their  backs  on  me  and  the  com- 

mon  people  stand  by  me.     I   have  come  to  leaD 

common  people.    They  are  the  real  foundation  oi 

government." 

Chicago,  New  York,  Philadelphia— all  the  Larg<   cil 
have  had  similar  experiences. 

The  following  editorial   appeared    in    the   Si.   Joseph 
News: 

THE  INEVITABLE:  1 1 ES I  LT. 

(Editorial  in  St.  Joseph  News.  Feb.  L7,  1902 
"In  the  course  of  a  libel  suit  in  the  courts  of  Pennsyl- 
vania last  week  a  legislative  reporter,  called  as  a  win 
of  the  unlawful  practices  charged  against  the  prosecutor, 
gave  some  evidence  that  ought  to  prove  startling  enough 
to  call  a  halt  on  the  methods  of  political  bosses  every- 
where. The  following  statement  on  the  witness  stand  is 
quoted: 

"  'Many  times  marked  roll  calls  were  handed  to  me  be  - 
fore  roll  call  was  made  and  often  I  recorded  the  names  of 
members  as  voting  who  I  knew  at  the  time  were  not  pres- 


COfcRUPTIOX  AND  PERJURY.  85 

ent.  I  knew  it  was  not  right,  but  I  could  not  help  it.  I 
had  to  do  as  I  was  told  or  get  out.' 

"Can  any  more  daring  abuse  of  the  power  of  the  boss 
be  conceived  than  this?  The  official  reporter  testifies  un- 
it- it  oath,  that  not  once  or  twice,  but  'many  times,'  the 
roll  call  of  the  state  legislature  was  a  mere  formality. 
The  measure  determined  upon  by  the  boss  was  declared 
passed  by  the  speaker  selected  by  the  boss,  and  the  names 
of  men  who  had  not  even  been  consulted  as  to  their  senti- 
ments were  recorded  as  voting  for  the  biggest  steals  ever 
engineered  through  any  state  legislature.  It  was  in  this 
way  that  the  ripper  bill  was  passed.  It  was  by  this  same 
method  that  the  street  railway  franchise  bills  giving  away 
franchises  worth  millions  of  dollars,  in  return  for  the 
two  millions  advanced  by  the  boss's  adherents  to  secure 
his  last  election  to  the  Legislature,  were  passed.  There 
was  mi  pretense  at  public  decency,  not  even  any  pretense 
at  allowing  to  the  legislators  a  voice  in  the  matter.  They 
were  merely  regarded  as  so  many  pawns  in  the  game  whose 
names  were  to  be  recorded  as  voting  for  the  selected 
measures,  no  matter  whether  they  were  present  or  ab- 
sent. 

'"Perhaps  in  no  other  state  has  political  corruption 
reached  this  low  level  of  unblushing  fraud.  And  yet  this 
is  but  one  step  beyond  the  practices  that  are  common  in 
Missouri  and  many  other  states.  Moreover  just  such  a 
state  of  affairs  is  the  inevitable  result  of  allowing  bosses 
to  control  the  votes  of  legislators.    In  Missouri  the  cor- 


86  CORRUPTION  AND  PEBJUBY. 

porations  and  political  contractors  pay  mone)   into  the 

campaign  fund  so  called,  and  when  the 
Jefferson  City  they  are  told  by  the  |  juat 

what  bills  they  may  vote  for  and  what   bilU  they   a 
oppose.    The  individual  jndgmenl  of  the  legislator  count* 
for  little.    But  he  is  still  at  liberty  I  •  ith 

his  own  voice,  and  so  preserve  at  leasl  the  form  ol   in- 
dividual judgment.    Tiny  used  to  do  things  in  the  MUM 
way  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  present  out 
the  direct  outgrowth  of  thai  Bystem. 

"The  United  States  is  in  qo  danger  from  without,  no 
power  on  earth  and  no  combination  of  |»>u.  i  likely 

to  be  brought  together  could  overthrow  as.     But  within 
our  own  government   and   especially   in   our 
hells,  are  the  seeds  of  our  own  unduniL'.     S  ivic  crii 

as  those  of  which  the  last  Pennsylvania  legislature 
guilty  are  bound  to  bring  their  own  punishment,  and 
ery  other  state  that  is  submitting  to  the  rule  of  any 
boss  or  set  of  bosses  is  making  itself  a  pla  pot  f<>r  the 

dissemination  of  corruption.  The  American  people  are 
strong  enough  and  intelligent  enough  to  end  rils 

if  they  will.  But  the  longer  it  is  delayed  the  more  difficult 
will  the  undertaking  be.  Let  other  Btates  take  warning 
from  the  fate  of  poor  old  Pennsylvania,  wearing  the  collar 
of  Quay,  and  end  the  corrupt  rule  of  bosses  before  it 
reaches  the  stage  of  making  laws  without  even  the  con- 
sent of  the  legislators." 

In  the  summer  of  1897  one  of  the  bi^est  frauds  in 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  87 

municipal  history  was  attempted  in  St.  Louis.  A  number 
of  capitalists  wished  to  buy  all  the  street  railways  in  the 
city,  form  a  trust,  and  operate  them  under  one  head.  To 
consumate  this  scheme  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Mu- 
nicipal Assembly,  known  as  the  North  and  South  bill. 

This  failed  to  pass  for  the  simple  reason  that  not 
enough  money  was  put  up  to  pass  it.  It  was  only  a  feeler. 
However,  it  appeared  again  with  a  different  name,  and 
backed  by  a  more  determined  effort  and  more  cash.  We 
quote  tlic  l)o>t-Dispatch,  which  published  all  the  facts  at 
tile  time: 

(From  the  Post-Dispatch  of  April  18,  1898.) 

"The  Post-Dispatch  herewith  presents  facts  concerning 
the  manner  in  which  the  Central  Traction  bill  was  passed 
over  the  mayor's  veto.  The  facts  are  such  as  warrant  im- 
mediate investigation  by  the  grand  jury,  and  the  attention 
of  thai  body  i>  called  to  what  follows. 

"The  history  of  the  Central  Traction  bill  is  a  sequel  to 
that  of  the  old  North  and  South  bill.  The  scandal  con- 
tained in  that  measure  was  fully  revealed  by  the  Post- 
Dispatch  last  summer. 

"At  that  time  the  men  behind  the  North  and  South  bill 
were  not  as  influential  or  possessed  of  as  much  wealth  as 
these  who  manipulated  the  second  scheme— the  Central 
Traction  bill. 

"The  North  and  South  bill  was  introduced  as  a  feeler. 
Such  lobbying  as  was  done  in  its  behalf  was  conducted  by 
John  Hermon.     No  money  was  paid  for  votes,  so  far  as 


88  CORRUPTION   AND  PERJURY. 

could  be  found.   There  were  frequent  champagne  suppi 
distribution  of  cigars,  etc.    This  'jollying*  mi  nol  enough 
for  the  members  of  the  House  of  Dele]  and  the  Coun- 

cil,  which  accounts  for  the  measure  noi  passing  over  the 

mayor's  veto. 

"Now  comes  the  introduction  of  the  Central  Traction 

bill,  having  behind  it,  as  stated  above,  men  oi  in- 

fluence. The  Post-Dispatch  know*  that  those  men  w) 
names  have  been  printed  as  being  at  the  head  of  the 
Central  Traction  bill,  only  have  a  minor  interest.  The 
Post-Dispatch  knows  who  the  true  promoters  are,  and 
when  the  facts  are  revealed,  St.  Louisans  will  be  aston- 
ished to  ascertain  who  really  have  seized  control  of  this 
city.  This  information  is  another  story  and  will  b< 
when  this  question  of  bribery  has  been  disposed  of. 

"When  the  Central  Traction  bill  came  up  nr.-t  it  was 
easily  passed.  It  was  then  vetoed  by  Mayor  Ziegenh«  in. 
After  that  the  promoters  settled  down  to  earnest,  hard 
work  in  order  to  carry  the  measure  over  the  mayor's  veto. 
In  order  to  be  sure  of  a  sufficient  majority  in  the  House 
of  Delegates  to  influence  the  Council — of  which  they  were 
afraid — they  decided  on  securing  25  votes  in  the  House  oi 
Delegates,  and  did  so. 

"Last  Tuesday  night  the  House  of  Delegates  met  to 
pass  the  measure  over  the  Mayor's  veto.  Prior  to  the 
jneeting,  a  caucus  of  sufficient  strength  was  held.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Delegates,  whose  name  is  known  by 
the  Post-Dispatch,  had  in  his  pocket  when  he  entered  the 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  89 

caucus  seventy-five  $1000  bills.  When  the  caucus  ad- 
journed this  member  had  but  fifty  $1000  bills  left.  The 
Delegates  then  went  into  session  and  the  bill  was  passed. 
Twenty-five  men  voted  for  it.    Their  names  are : 

"House — Joseph  L.  Schuler,  W.  H.  Judy,  Henry  Wan- 
der, John  P.  Sweeny,  Adolph  Madera,  Otto  Schumacher, 
J.  P.  Hirth,  Edmund  Bersch,  Emil  Hartmann,  Henry 
Hennig,  Charles  A.  Gutke,  John  Helms,  Louis  Becker, 
John  J.  Burke,  John  A.  King,  Henry  L.  Weeks,  Jr.,  Julius 
Lehmann,  John  J.  Wilmore,  William  H.  Ritter,  E.  E.  Mur- 
rell,  John  H.  Debrodt,  George  D.  Schaefer,  C.  W.  Watson, 
George  F.  Robertson,  Henry  B.  Wittenberg. 

"The  following  did  not  vote  for  the  iniquitous  measure: 
F.  C.  Pauley,  Harry  C.  Coudrey,  Hiram  Lloyd. 

"After  the  House  of  Delegates  adjourned,  the  second 
caucus  was  held.  All  who  had  been  in  the  first  caucus 
were  there  with  the  exception  of  two — Messrs.  Schuler 
and  Lehmann.  When  this  caucus  was  ended,  the  boodle 
middleman  had  no  more  $1000  bills  in  his  possession;  or, 
if  he  had,  he  only  had  six  $1000  bills,  which  he  intended 
for  men  who  did  not  come  to  the  caucus. 

"A  similar  deal  was  made  in  the  council.  The  quota- 
tion of  votes  of  councilmen  was  talked  of  around  the  City 
Hall  as  much  as  brokers  talk  of  the  rise  and  fall  in  wheat, 
or  gas,  or  tobacco  stock.  Just  how  much  was  paid  is  not 
known.  The  lowest  price  was  $3000  and  the  highest  was 
$10,000. 


90  CORRUPTION  AND  PEKJUBY. 

"At  this  time  it  is  of  interest  to  relate  a  scene  which 
was  akin  to  tragedy  in  the  council  chambers. 

"When  it  came  to  the  turn  of  the  Council  to  pass  the 
bill  over  the  mayor's  veto  the  members  of  the  House  of 
Delegates  filed  in  to  watch.  They  were  there  to  see  that 
there  was  no  backsliding  and  to  give  such  'moral1  en- 
couragement as  was  in  their  power. 

"The  name  of  Mr.  Uthoff  is  the  last  on  the  roll  of  the 
Council.  The  President  of  the  Council  votes  after  the 
members  have  cast  their  ballots.  In  order  to  pass  the 
bill  over  the  Mayor's  veto,  one  vote  was  necessary.  Either 
Mr.  TJthoff  or  President  Meier  could  have  cast  that  vote. 
Both  were  on  record  as  being  against  the  bill.  Mr.  Uthntf 
had  solemnly  pledged  Mayor  Zeigenhein  that  he  would 
oppose  the  measure.  The  promoters  had  reason  to  believe 
that  Uthoff  would  vote  in  favor  of  the  bill.  But  Uthoir 
was  not  to  be  trusted.  He  had  dealt  double  before.  The 
promoters  feared  him. 

"Now  for  tragic  scene. 

"When  it  came  Uthoff's  turn  to  vote,  the  silence  in  the 
chamber  was  such  that  heart  beats  could  almost  be  heard. 
Uthoff  hesitated  a  moment.  President  Meier  turned 
white  as  a  sheet.  He  bowed  his  head.  Every  muscle  and 
nerve  seemed  to  be  in  a  tension.  Uthoff  coughed  to  clear 
his  throat.  Then  in  a  low  tone  he  gave  the  word  that  cast 
his  vote  for  the  steal.  President  Meier's  face  turned  from 
white  to  red.  He  looked  up  in  triumph.  His  features 
were  indicative  of  great  relief  and  joy. 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  91 

"Judge  Zachritz,  who  impaneled  the  May  term  grand 
jury  of  1898,  in  instructing  the  body  to  take  up  and  in- 
vestigate these  charges,  said  in  part: 

JUDGE  ZACHRITZ'  CHARGES. 
(From  the  Post-Dispatch  of  April  25, 1898.) 

"Judge  Zachritz,  Monday  morning,  charged  the  grand 
jury  as  follows: 

"  'It  has  been  charged  by  said  paper  that  members  of 
the  House  of  Delegates  and  of  the  City  Council  have  been 
guilty  of  bribery  and  the  charge  involves  not  only  one  or 
two  members  of  the  Municipal  Assembly  as  now  consti- 
tuted. A  charge  of  this  kind  necessarily  requires  prompt 
action  of  some  kind  at  the  hands  of  the  authorities  whose 
duty  it  is  to  suppress  crime  *  *  *  But  not  until  now 
has  a  specific  charge  been  made,  and  the  time  has  come, 
gentlemen,  and  I  speak  advisedly,  and  in  calm  judgment 
when  in  my  opinion  determined  action  must  be  taken  by 
a  grandjury  and  the  prosecuting  officers  of  the  judicial 
circuit  for  the  purpose  of  ending,  once  for  all,  this  un- 
fortunate condition. 

"  'The  issue,  in  my  opinion,  is  clear  cut.  Either  the 
allegation  of  bribery  against  said  officials  is  true  and  can 
be  substantiated  by  legal  and  competent  testimony,  as 
averred  by  said  paper,  or  such  publication  is  entirely  with- 
out foundation  in  law  or  fact,  and  is  made  through  mo- 
tives other  than  those  which  tend  to  subserve  the  public 
good,  and  made  designedly  for  some  ulterior  purpose,  and 
in  that  event  those  who  hold  out  such  a  charge  to  the 


92  CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY. 

public  are,  in  my  judgment,  guilty  of  one  of  the  most 
damnable  crimes  known  to  the  law.  viz.,  criminal  libel. 


" 'In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  the  court  indulges  the  bope 
that  however  unpleasant  and  laborious  the  work  may  be 
that  necessarily  will  be  entailed  upon  you  by  reason  of 
this  specific  charge,  the  fruits  of  the  same  will  be  such  thai 
for  a  long  time  to  come  this  community  may  rest  secure  in 
the  assurance  that  on  the  one  hand  no  temptation,  how- 
ever great,  will  be  sufficient  to  induce  public  officials  to 
become  unmindful  of  their  obligations  toward  the  com- 
munity and  the  government  whose  laws  they  have  sworn 
to  obey,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  every  citizen,  whether  in 
official  life  or  not,  may  be  secure  in  his  possession  of  a 
good  name  and  character  against  all  unjust  assaults  made 
either  by  the  individual  or  by  the  press." 
NO  INDICTMENTS. 

"The  May  term  grand  jury  adjourned  May  18,  having 
returned  no  indictments  in  the  Central  Traction  case,  af- 
ter an  investigation  covering  a  period  of  almost  thirty 
days.  This  grandjury  was  composed  of  the  following 
gentlemen. 

"BRUCE  C.  ALVORD,  foreman,  secretary  Schultz 
Belting  Co. 

"GEORGE  L,  ALLEN,  president  Fulton  Iron  Works. 
"CHARLES  R.  BLAKE,  clerk  Simmons  Hardware  Co. 
"AUGUST  BRAUER,  stove  repairs. 
"MONROE  R.  COLLINS,  JR.,  real  estate. 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  93 

"ARTHUR  A.  EDDY,  grocers'  sundries. 

"WILLIAM  H.  ETTER,  900  Washington  avenue. 

"ROBERT  D.  MARKHAM,  insurance. 

"SAM  M.  PIPER,  secretary  St.  Louis  Coffin  Co. 

"JOHN  P.  SMITH,  business  not  stated. 

"GEORGE  DAUSMAN,  real  estate. 

"CHARLES  D.  SMILEY,  3838  Westminster  Place. 

"The  Circuit  Attorney,  at  that  time,  who  had  the  di- 
rection of  the  grandjury  investigations,  was  Theodore  C. 
Eggers;  his  assistant  was  Samuel  D.  Hodgdon." 

However,  nothing  at  all  was  done  in  the  matter.  For 
four  years  the  thing  rested,  as  no  grandjury  took  up  the 
case.  But  the  public  were  well  aware  of  the  corrupt  meth- 
ods of  the  Central  Traction  bill,  and  it  was  well  known 
that  the  State  Legislature  had  passed  a  bill  to  incorporate 
the  company,  and  that  this  bill  had  been  signed  by  the 
Governor.    And  yet  the  matter  rested. 

Four  years  later,  January,  1902,  a  grandjury  investi- 
gated every  phase  of  the  scandal,  and  the  report  of  the 
succeeding  body  corroborated  the  charges  made  by  the 
newspapers  four  years  back.  But  it  was  too  late.  The 
statute  of  limitation  barred  all  prosecution  of  the  offend- 
ers, with  one  exception— Robt.  M.  Snyder  of  Kansas  City, 
whom  it  was  claimed  was  not  subject  to  the  statute,  be- 
cause he  had  been  a  resident  of  New  York  since  that  time. 

We  quote  the  Post-Dispatch  again: 

FEBRUARY  INDICTMENTS. 

"The  February  grandjury  of  1902  indicted  Robert  M. 


94  CORRUPTION'  AND  PEBJUET. 

Snyder  in  the  Central  Traction  case.  It  ie  held  by  Circuit 
Attorney  Folk  that  Mr.  Snyder  has  maintained  his  place 
of  residence  outside  of  Missouri  for  a  long  enough  period 
to  make  the  statute  of  limitations  inoperative  in  hii  case. 

"Mr.  Snyder  is  a  capitalist  who  now  Uvea  in  New  York. 
When  the  offense  alleged  in  the  indictmenl  is  said  to  1 
been  committed  Snyder  lived  in  Kansas  City.  The  date 
of  the  alleged  offense  is  'on  or  about  March  22,  1898.'  At 
that  time  Council  bill  No.  451,  otherwise  known  as  tin- 
Central  Traction  bill,  was  pending. 

"It  is  alleged  that  Snyder  negotiated  with  and  paid 
Frederick  G.  Utthoff,  then  a  member  of  the  Council.  $50,- 
000  to  procure  the  vote  and  support  of  that  oliioial  for  the 
measure. 

"Judge  Ryan  will  try  the  Snyder  case.  It  has  not  yet 
been  set. 

"Commenting  on  the  Central  Traction  bill,  the  April 
grandjury  said: 

"'Convincing  documentary  evidence  was  unearthed 
proving  that  the  sum  of  $145,000  was  placed  in  escrow  in 
a  bank  in  this  city  to  be  paid  to  the  members  of  the  Mu- 
nicipal Assembly  of  St.  Louis  upon  the  passage  of  a  valu- 
able franchise  ordinance. 

'This  ordinance  failed  and  a  second  bill  was  intro- 
duced, upon  the  passage  of  which  the  sum  of  about  $250,- 
000  was  distributed  among  its  members. 

'  'After  the  passage  of  this  ordinance  the  franchise  was 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.      95 

sold  for  $1,250,000.    The  city  realized  nothing  whatever 
for  this  franchise. 

RESULT  DISAPPOINTING. 

"'We  regret  that  the  grandjury  of  three  years  ago, 
which  made  a  fruitless  investigation  of  the  municipal 
scandal,  was  unable  to  secure  the  evidence  which  we  found 
so  readily  and  which  could  have  been  more  easily  ob- 
tained at  that  time. 

"  'We  cannot  but  believe  that  if  the  officers  whose  duty 
it  was  at  that  time  to  prepare  and  present  matters  of  this 
kind  to  the  indicting  body  had  discharged  their  duty  faith- 
fully and  vigorously  the  result  would  have  been  different. 

"  'No  city,'  continued  the  April  body,  'has  been  so  com- 
pletely at  the  mercy  of  faithless  public  servants.  No 
municipal  corporation  has  ever  had  its  most  valuable  fran- 
chises so  recklessly  and  scandalously  disposed  of  for  a 
consideration  which  found  its  way  not  to  the  city  treasury, 
but  into  the  itching  palms  of  public  pilferers.' " 

The  Central  Traction  franchise  was  sold  to  the  Transit 
Co.  for  $1,250,000.00. 

The  Transit  Co.,  born,  as  it  were,  in  iniquity,  corruption 
and  crime,  at  once  started  out  upon  a  most  vicious  and 
appalling  career.  To  cut  down  expenses  cars  were  taken 
off  and  the  speed  increased.  Accidents  became  numerous 
and  frightful.  Scores  were  killed  and  hundreds  maimed 
for  life.  In  a  short  time  they  began  to  break  up  the 
Union  of  the  conductors  and  motormen.  The  long  bloody 
strike  mentioned  later  took  place. 


96  CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY. 

"Every  line  but  the  Suburban  was  owned  by  the  Transit 
Co.  The  public  used  this  line  whenever  it  was  possible, 
and  gave  it  moral  support  and  favor  in  every  way.  It  was 
popular,  but  the  Transit  Co.  was  hated. 

But  this  popularity  collapsed,  when  tbe  Suburban  Road 
was  caught  red  handed  in  a  villainous  piece  of  bribery.  I 
quote  the  Post-Dispatch  again: 

THE  SUBURBAN  DEAL. 

"The  Suburban  franchise  deal,  though  on  a  smaller 
scale  financially,  involved  more  prominent  influences  to 
father  its  passage  than  any  ordinance  ever  presented  for 
consideration. 

"The  Suburban  Railroad  Co.,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  Charles  H.  Turner  given  at  the  Meysenburg 
trial,  employed  a  legislative  agent  to  see  that  $135,000 
was  paid  for  the  valuable  franchise  privileges  asked. 

'  'Phillip  Stock  was  our  (meaning  the  Suburban  Rail- 
way Co.)  legislative  agent,'  testified  Turner. 

"Stock,  who  is  the  secretary  of  the  St.  Louis  brewing 
Co.,  and  accounted  wealthy,  acknowledged  the  title  on 
the  witness  stand. 

"The  story  of  the  disgraceful  municipal  chapter  is  fresh 
in  the  public  mind. 

"Information  reached  Circuit  Attorney  Folk  that  a  sum 
of  money  had  been  placed  in  safety  deposit  vaults  at  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  Lincoln  Trust  companies  for  dis- 
tribution among  members  of  the  Municipal  Assembly. 

"One  key,  it  was  said,  had  been  held  by  John  G.  Brink- 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  97 

meyer,  representing  Charles  Kratz;  another  was  in  the 
possession  of  John  K.  Murrell,  while  a  third  was  held  by 
Stock,  of  the  Suburban  company. 

FOUND  THE  $130,000. 
In  company  with  Circuit  Attorney  Folk,  Foreman  Lee 
and  two  other  members  of  the  grandjury  visited  the  trust 
companies. 

"In  the  deposit  boxes  they  found  $135,000,  and,  with 
this  confirmation  of  the  report  that  the  Suburban  Rail- 
road Co.  had  placed  that  amount  there  for  distribution 
among  the  members  of  the  assembly  in  case  the  bill 
passed,  the  grandjury  and  Mr.  Folk  proceeded  to  probe 
the  matter  to  the  bottom. 

"Acting  on  the  advice  of  attorneys,  President  Charles 
H.  Turner  of  the  Suburban  Railway  Co.,  and  Philip  Stock, 
his  'legislative  agent/  appeared  before  the  grandjury  and 
related  the  details  of  the  entire  transaction. 

"They  stated  that  the  money  was  placed  there  in  ac- 
cordance with  an  arrangement  made  by  which  the  com- 
pany was  to  have  one  key  to  the  boxes  and  Councilman 
Kratz  and  Delegate  Murrel  the  other  key  to  one  of  the 
boxes  each,  the  money  to  remain  there  until  the  bill  was 
passed. 

"The  bill  passed  the  Council,  but  was  stopped  by  in- 
junction proceedings  in  the  House  of  Delegates.  The 
company  then  refused  to  surrender  their  keys  to  the  boxes 
and  it  was  the  continued  demands  of  the  representatives 

(7) 


98  CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY. 

of  the  Assembly  that  brought  the  knowledge  of  the  fund's 
existence  to  Mr.  Folk's  ears. 

THREE  INDICTMENTS. 

"Within  a  week  after  the  grandjury  took  up  the  investi- 
gation of  the  affair  it  returned  indictments  against  Mur- 
rell, Kratz  and  Emil  A.  Meysenburg,  another  former 
member  of  the  Council.  Meysenburg  was  a  member  of 
the  railroad  committee  which  reported  the  bill  favorably. 
Kratz  was  one  of  the  councilmen  who  voted  for  the  bill's 
passage.  Murrell,  as  a  member  of  the  House,  had  no  op- 
portunity to  vote  on  the  bill. 

"The  bench  warrants  were  served  on  Murrell,  Kratz 
and  Meysenburg  Monday,  January  27. 

"Each  of  these  men  was  indicted  for  bribery.  Bribery 
indictments  were  also  found  within  the  next  few  days 
against  Ellis  Wainwright  and  Henry  Nicolaus,  and.perjury 
indictments  against  Julius  Lehmann  and  Harry  A.  Faulk- 
ner. 

"Wainwright  and  Nicolaus  are  directors  of  the  Su- 
burban Railroad.  Their  indictment  resulted  from  testi- 
mony before  the  grandjury  that  they  jointly,  with  Presi- 
dent Turner,  signed  the  note  for  $135,000  on  which  the 
money  deposited  in  the  boxes  was  secured  from  a  St.  Louis 
bank. 

"Wainwright  was  in  Egypt  at  the  time  and  has  not 
since  returned.  Nicolaus,  who  is  a  brewery  proprietor, 
admitted  signing  the  note,  but  declared  his  ignorance  of 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  to  be  used. 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  99 

"Faulkner  is  a  member  of  the  present  House  of  Dele- 
gates and  Lehmann  a  former  member.  They  were  in- 
dicted because  they  told  the  grandjury  they  know  nothing 
about  the  existence  of  this  $135,000  fund,  after  the  grand- 
jury  believed,  from  other  evidence,  that  they  did  know 
about  it. 

INVESTIGATION  CONTINUED. 

"W.  H.  Lee  was  foreman  of  this  grandjury,  which  made 
its  report  to  Judge  Horatio  D.  Wood  February  2.  It 
recommended  further  investigation  into  municipal  corrup- 
tion. The  February  grandjury,  impaneled  a  few  days 
later,  was  specially  charged  by  Judge  O'Neill  Ryan,  who 
succeeded  Judge  Wood  in  charge  of  one  of  the  criminal 
divisions  of  the  Circuit  Court,  to  pursue  this  line  of  in- 
vestigation.   William  B.  Dean  was  chosen  foreman. 

"The  first  indictments  resulted  from  investigations  of 
the  Suburban  bill  introduced  in  the  Council  in  October, 
1900,  and  passed  by  the  Council  February  8,  1901." 

The  public  and  the  press  clamored  for  further  investiga- 
tion. The  grandjury  kept  up  the  good  work,  and  indicted 
no  less  than  fifteen  men  for  bribery  and  corruption.  I 
quote  the  Post-Dispatch  again: 

BUTLER  INDICTED. 

"Ed  Butler  was  indicted  by  this  grandjury  a  few  days 
later  on  a  charge  of  attempted  bribery.  His  indictment 
resulted  from  investigations  into  the  passage  of  the  'gar- 
bage bill*  by  the  present  Assembly.  It  was  charged  against 
Butler  that  he  offered  Dr.  H.  N.  Chapman  of  the  board 


100  CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY. 

of  health  a  'present'  of  $2500  and  that  he  also  attempt  <■<! 
to  stuff  money  inside  the  doctor's  vest.  It  was  further 
alleged  that  Butler  had  offered  Dr.  Albert  Bierrell,  the 
other  medical  member  of  the  board  of  health,  a  similar 
'present/ 

"This  evidence  was  presented  to  the  public  by  the  Post- 
Dispatch  on  February  16  in  an  interview  with  Dr.  Chap- 
man, in  which  the  doctor  said  Butler  had  offered  him 
$2500  as  a  'present.'    Dr.  Chapman  declined  the  offer. 

"Butler  had  been  a  power  in  St.  Louis  politics  for  30 
years.  He  claimed  to  be  the  boss  of  the  local  Democracy. 
His  claim  was  frequently  attested  at  elections. 

"He  scoffed  at  the  idea  that  anybody  could  or  would 
connect  him  with  bribery,  and  he  boasted  that  he  de- 
livered the  'goods'  to  corporations  for  fees. 

"In  an  interview  with  the  Post-Dispatch  January  28 
he  said  among  other  things : 

"  'Two  years  ago  the  Suburban  officials  asked  me  if  I 
couldn't  help  the  Suburban  road  get  through  the  bill  for  a 
franchise  extending  its  tracks  over  a  large  part  of  the  city 
that  it  does  not  reach.    I  said  I  thought  I  could. 
BUTLER'S  TERMS  ACCEPTED. 

"  '  "What  will  it  cost  ?"  he  asked. 

"  '  "It  will  take  $145,000,"  I  told  him. 

"There  were  several  talks  about  the  matter.  Some  of 
111-'  Suburban  people  thought  $100,000  was  enough,  but 
finally  my  terms  were  accepted. 

'I  was  to  have  had  a  certain  fee  even  if  I  had  failed  to 


CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  10 1 

pass  the  bill.  What  that  was  I  will  not  say  now,  as  the 
entire  matter  was  taken  out  of  my  hands,  but  the  figures 
were  unlucky. 

"  'I  agreed  for  a  fee  of  $145,000  to  pass  the  bill.  And 
there  would  not  have  been  any  safe  deposit  box  to  take 
care  of  the  money  if  I  had  handled  the  matter. 

"  'I  don't  do  business  that  way. 

"  'I  get  the  fee,  and  in  60  days  the  legislation  wanted  is 
delivered.' 

"John  H.  Becker,  holding  the  position  of  city  factory 
inspector,  was  indicted  on  the  charge  of  attempted  brib- 
ery. The  indictment  accused  him  of  attempting  to  influ- 
ence by  means  of  money  the  jury  commissioner  to  place  a 
certain  name  on  the  jury  list  in  the  Kratz  case." 

The  sensational  lighting  scandal,  which  resulted  in  Mr. 
Kelly  fleeing  to  Europe,  is  still  fresh  in  the  public  mind. 
The  newspapers  have  published  broadcast  the  startling 
facts  in  this  case,  and  it  has  attracted  attention  all  over 
the  country.  The  accounts  read  like  some  of  the  tales  of 
Robin  Hood  or  the  Arabian  Nights.  Like  the  forty 
thieves,  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Del- 
egates had  combined.  Their  purpose  was  to  block  every 
bill  unless  paid  a  certain  bribe.  This  "combine"  held 
regular  meetings  and  actually  conducted  them  according 
to  parliamentary  rules. 

It  worked  well;  every  bill  was  held  up  until  they  re- 
ceived their  price. 

They  permitted  the  city  to  be  plunged  into  darkness 


102  CORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY. 

while  holding  up  a  certain  lighting  bill.    The  citizen* 
came  indignant  and  held  mass  meetings.    They  marched 
in  a  body  to  the  City  Hall,  and  demanded  thai  this  bill  be 

passed  and  the  city  lighted.    In  their  indignation  and  n 
many  threats  of  lynching  were  made     Xel  ill  spite  of  all 
this  the  Combine  waited  until  tlu-y  were  ready  before  pi 
ing  the  bill. 

And  when  was  that  ? 

Not  until  they  were  paid  $47,500.00  in  bribes.  There 
were  nineteen  members  in  the  Combine  and  cadi  one  re- 
ceived $2,500.00.  This  was  distributed  one  nighl  at  what 
was  called  a  birthday  party.  Afterwards,  when  Circuit 
Attorney  Folk  began  the  boodle  investigations,  it  was 
found  that  Kelly  had  brought  the  money  to  be  distributed, 
and  that  he  alone  knew  the  bribe-giver.-.  When  Mr.  Folk 
sought  to  lay  hands  upon  him,  he  fled  to  Europe  and  only 
returned  after  the  time  had  expired  during  which  he 
might  be  prosecuted  according  to  law. 

The  grandjury  which  brought  most  of  the  indictments 
made  the  following  report  in  regard  to  the  House  of 
Delegates : 

"We  have  had  before  us  many  of  those  who  have  been, 
and  most  of  those  who  are  now,  members  of  the  House 
of  Delegates.  We  regret  to  report  that  we  found  a  num- 
ber of  these  utterly  illiterate  and  lacking  in  ordinary  in- 
ielligence,  unable  to  give  a  better  reason  for  favoring  or 
opposing  a  measure  than  a  desire  to  act  with  the  majority. 
I Q  some  no  trace  of  mentality  or  morality  could  be  found; 


(  ORRUPTION  AND  PERJURY.  105 

in  others  a  low  order  of  training  appeared,  united  with 
base,  cunning,  groveling  instincts  and  sordid  desires.  Un- 
qualified to  respond  to  the  ordinary  requirements  of  life, 
they  are  utterly  incapable  of  comprehending  the  signifi- 
cance of  an  ordinance,  and  are  incapacitated  both  by 
nature  and  by  training  to  be  the  makers  of  laws.  The 
choosing  of  such  men  to  be  legislators  makes  a  travesty  of 
just  ice.  sets  a  premium  on  incompetency  and  deliberately 
poisons  the  very  source  of  law." — Report  of  St.  Louis 
Grand  jury. 

Is  not  the  drift  and  tendency  of  affairs  plainly  appar- 
ent ?  Is  it  not  clear  that  legislation  of  the  people,  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people  is  a  thing  of  the  past? 

"As  long  as  legislators  can  make  more  profit  by  serving 
monopolies  than  by  serving  the  people  it  may  be  expected 
that  monopolies  will  be  served." 

And  as  long  as  the  people  permit  it,  monopolies  will 
continue  to  be  served. 

Here  then  is  found  another  agency  at  work  to  bring  on 
the  Revolution.  Only  one  of  many,  yet  a  very  powerful 
one  in  itself,  and  of  the  most  vital  importance.  It  has  not 
honeycombed  national  legislation  quite  as  much  as  mu- 
nicipal, but  it  will.  When  it  does,  the  end  is  near.  The 
people  will  then  lay  the  ax  to  the  root  of  the  tree. 


CHAPTER  VI, 


TRADES  UNIONS. 


Their  History,  Tower  and  Possibilities— Why  They  Are  at 

War  With  Capital  and  What  Will  Be  the  I 


I  had  long  since  made  up  my  mind  to  .-tudv  the  -«><ial 
and  industrial  problem  in  all  its  branches,  and  to  gel  to 
the  bottom  if  possible  and  know  the  truth.  I  learned 
that  there  were  many  aspects  to  the  problem,  but  de- 
termined to  investigate  each  phase  closely. 

Naturally,  I  cast  about  to  see  if  there  wras  any  force  at 
work  to  meet  and  do  battle  with  the  forces  of  Plutocracy. 

Trades  Unionism  made  this  profession  and  I  immedi- 
ately started  my  researches.  Furthermore,  Gladstone 
once  said,  "Trades  unions  are  the  bulwarks  of  modern 
society,"  and  my  mind  was  certainly  unbiased  and  open  lo 
conviction. 

"Some  very  trustworthy  and  efficient  men  are  interested 
in  the  cause  of  Trades  Unionism;  one,  a  St.  Louis  man, 
has  a  national  reputation  for  his  honesty  and  fidelity  to 
the  cause  he  has  espoused. 

The  St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch  discusses  him  as  follows: 

"Mr.  John  T.  Wilson,  President  of  the  Brotherhood  of 

(106) 


TEADES  UNIONS.  107 

Railway  Trackmen  of  America,  and  generally  considered 
by  his  friends  the  most  effective,  honest  and  conscientious 
labor  organizer  in  the  country,  has  turned  down  an  offer 
of  a  bonus  of  $25,000,  and  an  executive  position  with  a 
railroad  company  at  an  annual  salary  of  $5,000. 

"The  remarkable  circumstance  about  the  proposition  is 
that  it  was  made  to  Mr.  Wilson  by  a  railroad  company 
whose  striking  trackmen  were  led  to  victory  by  the  presi- 
dent of  their  organization. 

"The  wonderful  executive  ability  displayed  by  Mr.  Wil- 
son, while  handling  the  interests  of  the  striking  mainte- 
nance-of-way  men,  his  fairness,  honesty  and  indomitable 
pluck  and  perseverance,  so  impressed  the  management  o£ 
the  railroad  company  that  an  outright  offer  of  the  hand- 
some bonus  and  permanent  position  was  made  to  him. 

"But  the  ambition  of  Mr.  Wilson's  life  is  to  elevate  the 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  Trackmen  of  America  to  such  a 
position  of  influence  that  it  can  command  the  respect  the 
laboring  men  deserve,  and  he  spurned  the  offer  and  re- 
turned to  his  desk  in  the  Benoist  building,  to  preside  over 
the  destinies  of  the  organization  he  founded  fifteen  years 
ago  at  Talladega,  Ala. 

MEN  SHOULD  STRIKE  ONLY  WHEN  FORCED. 

"Mr.  Wilson  may  have  looked  upon  the  offer  as  a  bait  to 
draw  him  away  from  the  work  to  which  he  is  devoting  the 
best  energies  of  hia  life.  In  fact,  it  is  said  that  tempting 
propositions  are  frequently  thrown  in  his  way,  in  the  hope 
of  influencing  him  to  abandon  his  work. 


108  TRADES  l'\'l«»\S. 

"Through  the  instrumentalit)  of  the  work  of  I, 
ganization  the  railway  trackmen  of  America  will 
$2,000,000  more  in  Balaries  during  the  pretenl  year  than 
they  would  had  not  the  organization  been  in  i 

"Mr.  Wilson  docs  not  believe  in  Btriki  epl  when 

the  men  are  forced  into  them.     He  i.-  an  advo<  the 

arbitration  of  labor  disputes,  hut  when  be  does  t a  1 
fight  he  goes  in  to  win. 

Last  summer  the  maintenance-of-way  men  of  tl 
nadian  Pacific  Railway,  one  of  the  greatest  and  sti 
financed  railroads  in  existence,  struck  for  an  increase  of 
wages.    Mr.  Wilson  was  called  from  St.  Louis  to  I 
to  handle  the  strike,  which  lie  did  with  such  consummate 
skill  that  the  men  were  conceded  practically  all  of  their 
demands. 

COST  CANADIAN  PACIFIC  $250,000  MORE  ANNU- 
ALLY. 

"Mr.  Wilson's  fight  against  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
way cost  that  corporation  $250,000  annually  in  in 
wages  to  its  trackmen." 

But  now  the  labor  unions  are  going  into  politics.  They 
realize  that  they  have  a  powerful  vote  and  that  by  acting 
together  may  secure  anything  they  wish. 

The  New  York  Journal,  wdiich  is  the  most  widely  r< 
newspaper  in  the  country,  says  that  labor  can  elect  their 
own  men  to  rule  the  country  whenever  they  want  to.  They 
have  the  power  to  do  it  now. 

The  Western  Labor  Union,  in  its  recent  session  in  Den- 


TRADES  UNIONS.  109 

ver,  put  itself  on  record  in  favor  of  independent  political 
action.  At  time  of  going  to  press  no  definite  action  had 
been  taken,  but  here  follows  the  opening  declaration  of 
one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  Western  labor 
world:  Daniel  McDonald,  President  of  the  Western  Labor 
Union :  "The  wage  system  must  go.  I  am  in  favor  of  the 
convention  declaring  for  independent  political  action.  It 
is  time  for  the  workingmen  to  assert  themselves.  They 
hold  in  their  hands  the  political  power  of  the  country. 
They  must  learn  to  use  it." 

Labor  contends  that  but  a  very  small  per  cent  of  legis- 
lation is  ever  enacted  in  its  behalf.  That  it  is  called  upon 
to  vote  and  parade  at  election  time,  but  that  is  all  the 
good  it  ever  gets  out  of  it.  Petitions  and  requests  avail 
but  little.    I  quote  an  article  in  Equality: 

"Labor  stands  pleading  at  the  doors  of  the  Legislature, 
each  succeeding  session,  for  relief  from  its  thousand  and 
one  ills.  It  asks  that  the  so-called  labor  laws  heretofore 
enacted  and  that  have  proven  to  be  unconstitutional,  im- 
practicable or  worse  than  the  laws  they  superseded,  be 
taken  up  and  so  amended  as  to  give  them  force  and  effect 
for  good  purposes. 

"It  pleads  that  the  measures  it  presents  shall  not  be 
handed  over  to  machine-made  committees  in  the  Senate 
and  House,  to  be  either  throttled  therein,  or  have  all  the 
life  and  spirit  taken  out  of  them,  so  that  they  are  not,  as 
passed,  worth  to  labor  the  paper  on  which  they  are  writ- 
ten.   It  pleads  that  committees  shall  be  no  longer  made 


110  TRADES  UNION'S. 

up  to  suit  the  monopolies  of  the  State,  to  recommend  billa 
the  monopolies  want  and  negative  those  to  which  the  mo- 
nopolies object,  and  generally  to  exploit  the  monopol 
for  money  to  run  machine  campaigns. 

"It  asks  no  special  favors,  but  wants  the  righl  to  1 
and  make  a  living  by  honest  and  fairly-paid  work,  and  thai 
the  leaders  in  the  law-making  shall  give  Borne  heed  to  the 
fact  that,  when  labor  is  not  prospering,  the  Stan-  cannol 
prosper.  The  producer  is  also  the  consumer,  and  when 
his  ability  to  buy  is  cut  off  by  selfish  monopolies,  created 
and  fostered  by  machine  legislatures  and  executives,  all 
classes  must  suffer. 

"It  pleads  that  when  departments  and  bureaus  are  cre- 
ated ostensibly  for  its  benefit  they  shall  be  officered  by 
clean  and  capable  men  who  will  do  their  duty  faithfully 
and  fearlessly  and  not,  as  too  often  happens,  to  machine 
heelers  who  recognize  no  allegiance  but  to  the  machine. 

"Finally,  it  pleads  for  a  Governor  who  has  not  and  never 
had  connection  with  monopolies  of  any  kind,  who  has 
never  served  any  form  of  corporations,  who  is  a  plain  man, 
in  full  sympathy  with  the  plain  people,  utterly  untram- 
meled  and  prepared  for  anything  that  will  uplift  the 
people  and  progress  the  State. 

"With  such  a  man  as  the  chief  executive  and  a  Legisla- 
ture against  the  machine,  labor's  pleas  will  be  heeded  and 
its  causes  of  complaint  will  disappear." 

Certainly  the  Labor  Unions  have  a  right  to  go  into  poli- 
tics and  fight  their  own  battles,  for  if  they  don't  nobody 


TRADES  UNIONS.  Ill 

will  fight  for  them.  And  that  there  are  enemies  to  labor 
none  can  doubt.  There  are  corporations  that  continually 
wage  war  against  organized  labor  and  seek  to  reduce  their 
wages  and  break  up  their  unions. 

A  news  dispatch  says  that  the  big  Montana  lumber 
companies  have  formed  an  organization  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  fighting  union  labor. 

I  quote  the  Appeal  to  Reason : 

"Representative  Schofield,  while  opposing  a  referen- 
dum bill  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  the  other  day, 
made  this  remark:  'WE  MUST  PROTECT  OUR- 
SELVES FROM  THE  80,000  PEOPLE  ORGANIZED  IN 
THE  TRADES  UNIONS/  And  every  Congressman  who 
opposes  the  referendum  is  opposed  to  it  on  the  ground 
that  he  does  not  want  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  his  power' 
in  making  laws.  Congressmen  who  believe  in  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people  will  support  the  principles  of  Direct 
Legislation.  And  those  who  are  opposed  to  the  Majority 
Rule  should  not  be  returned  to  the  halls  of  Congress.  If 
you  want  to  have  a  people's  country,  take  this  matter  up 
and  let  the  opponent  of  Direct  Legislation  stay  at  home, 
while  you  put  some  one  in  his  place  who  will  do  your  bid- 
ding." 

"  'The  Corporation  Auxiliary  Co./  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce Building,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  is  a  corporation  that  ad- 
vertises to  spy  on  workmen  in  the  shops  of  large  employ- 
ers of  labor,  to  keep  the  employer  posted  on  the  actions  of 
the  men  regarding  unions,  Socialism  and  other  subjects. 


n2  TBADES  UNIONS. 

Think  of  that!  ye  workingmen.    When  will  you  use  your 

votes  to  make  yourselves  free  from  your  n  Hon 

much  oppression  will  it  require  to  wake  you  up?  Under 
what  degrading  conditions  must  you  sink  before  you  will 
assert  your  manhood  ?" 

Without  any  doubt,  then,  we  have  a  Btrong  Eoi 
work  antagonizing  Plutocracy.     It  is  useless  to  try  to 
the  interests  of  labor  and  capital  are  identical.    They  are 
opposed. 

This  country  points  with  pride  to  the  fact  that  it  has 
gained  control  of  the  markets  of  the  world;  that  it-  mosl 
formidable  commercial  rival,  England,  ha-  beeu  out- 
stripped in  the  race,  and  that  henceforth  1 1 1 « -  world's  lead- 
er in  manufactures,  commerce,  etc.,  will  be  the  Tinted 
States. 

We  also  say,  with  great  pride,  that  the  cause  of  our 
commercial  supremacy  is  greater  intelligence,  enterprise 
and  energy,  coupled  with  better  machinery,  inventions 
and  skilled  labor,  than  any  country  in  the  world. 

This  all  seems  grand  and  inspiring,  yet  all  is  not  found 
to  be  so  calm  and  serene  upon  close  inspection. 

There  is  intense  strife  between  capital  and  labor.  Dis- 
agreeable as  the  thought  may  seem,  such  are  the  facts. 
As  time  passes  the  breach  grows  wider,  until  in  some  sec- 
tions the  two  are  at  daggers'  points.  One  need  but  read 
the  daily  papers  to  be  convinced  of  this.  Capital  tells  its 
story ;  Labor  does  the  same.    But  for  every  time  Labor  has 


TRADES  UNIONS.  113 

been  unfair  to  Capital,  Capital  has  ten  wrongs  charged  to 
it. 

I  quote  the  Chicago  Record-Herald: 

"DEATH  IN  CHICAGO  WORKSHOPS. 


"Womanhood  on  the  Altar  of  Greed — Future  Mothers 
Poisoned  with  Deadly  Drugs — Insane  Desire  for  Div- 
idends  and   Lax   Enforcement  of   Labor   Law  Re- 
sponsible. 
(M.  J.  Deutsch  in  Chicago  Record-Herald.) 
"In  Chicago's  army  of  wage-workers  .there  are  about 
50,000  who  are  engaged  in  duties  which  require  them  to 
face  death  constantly  in  some  form.    This  may  seem  like 
a  strong  assertion,  but  it  is  true  nevertheless.    Thousands 
are  working  each  day  piling  up  misery  for  themselves,  even 
if  they  are  not  ultimately  sent  to  their  last  accounts  by 
the   very  nature  of  their  employments.     I  believe  my 
estimate  to  be  conservative. 

"To  illustrate  the  fact  that  this  number  of  wage-work- 
ers face  the  reaper  at  the  lathe,  in  the  workshop  and  in 
the  factory,  let  me  give  a  number  of  instances  which  come 
under  daily  observations.  The  greatest  injury  is  done  to 
women  and  children  in  many  of  the  occupations  in  which 
they  obtain  employment. 

"Women  and  children,  on  account  of  their  physical 
construction,  are  less  able  to  bear  sustained  muscular  ex- 
ertion than  men.  They,  too,  are  more  susceptible  to  the 
poisons  that  are  used  in  many  of  the  arts  and  manufac- 

(8) 


114  TRADES  UNIONS. 

hires  at  which  they  are  employed.  Among  the  brass 
workers  in  Chicago,  such  as  metal  polishing,  buffing  and 
plating,  and  more  especially  the  plumbing  supply  con- 
cerns, hundreds  of  girls  are  employed  at  wages  ranging 
from  $3  to  $8  per  week,  for  which  a  craftsman  would  re- 
ceive not  less  than  twenty-five  cents  per  hour.  There  is 
another  danger  far  more  injurious  to  the  women  and  chil- 
dren than  working  for  less  than  half  the  wages  a  man 
would  receive  for  the  same  work,  and  thai  is  the  constant 
inhaling  of  the  dust  from  the  copper  and  brass,  which  in 
a  short  time  POISONS  THE  WHOLE  SYSTEM  AND 
PHYSICALLY  RUINS  THEM  FOR  LIFE. 

"So  long  as  these  deplorable  conditions  are  permitted  to 
continue  there  is  no  use  for  a  young  man  to  learn  that 
trade.  If  he  does  and  becomes  a  journeyman  all  he  can  do 
is  to  work  for  the  paltry  sum  paid  women  and  children 
or  walk  the  streets.  The  Legislature  of  this  State  has 
enacted  a  law  known  as  the  'blower  law,'  which  provides 
that  factories  and  workshops  shall  supply  revolving  wheels 
to  collect  the  dust  arising  and  carry  it  out  of  the  shop. 
This  law  is  not  enforced  by  the  factory  inspectors  to  any 
great  extent  today. 

CHILD  PRISONS. 

"The  picture  frame  factories  of  Chicago  should  be 
called  children's  prisons,  as  that  name  would  be  more  ap- 
propriate than  factory.  Chicago  manufactures  more  pic- 
ture frames  than  any  other  city  in  the  world,  but  the  de- 
plorable conditions  existing  in  these  factories  cannot  be 


TRADES  UNIONS.  115 

described  in  words.  The  public  should  see  the  little  vic- 
tims as  they  emerge  from  the  factories,  the  mottoes  of 
which  seem  to  be:  'HUSTLE  LITTLE  CHILDREN 
UNTO  US  AND  WE  WILL  WORK  THE  LIFE  OUT 
OF  YOU/  And  they  are  doing  it,  too.  Children  by  the 
hundreds,  ranging  in  age  from  twelve  to  sixteen  years, 
work  in  these  factories  for  ten  hours  a  day  for  thirty  to 
fifty  cents  per  day. 

"If  one  wishes  to  see  a  sight  that  will  make  him  feel  that 
humanity,  or  at  least  a  portion  of  it,  is  totally  depraved, 
let  him  stand  in  the  vicinity  of  one  of  these  picture  frame 
factories  at  the  quitting  hour.  Here  he  can  witness 
scenes  which  will  make  him  shudder.  Filing  out  of  the 
doors  and  gates  are  hundreds  of  young  boys,  who,  if  they 
live,  are  to  take  their  places  as  voters  in  this  country; 
little  fellows  still  in  short  pants,  with  their  clothes  cov- 
ered with  gold  dust,  paint,  varnish,  shellac  and  other  ma- 
terials used  in  the  manufacture  of  picture  frames;  boys 
whose  faces  are  drawn  and  pinched  from  overwork,  whose 
bodies  have  become  prematurely  old;  little  children  whose 
eyes  should  shine  as  the  noonday  sun,  but  the  luster  and 
cheer  has  gone  out  of  them ;  children  whose  step  should  be 
quick  and  elastic  are  as  dull  as  night — all  because  of  the 
greed  of  an  avaricious  employer. 

"Stop  any  of  these  children  and  ask  them  their  ages; 
parrot-like  they  lisp  Tm  fourteen.'  In  twenty  per  cent  of 
cases  this  is  all  the  English  they  speak.  Fourteen  is  the 
factory  age  in  Illinois,  and  while  these  children  are  taught 


116  TRADES  UNIONS. 

in  their  homes  that  it  is  necessary  i'or  them  to  work 
starve,  like  a  lamb  led  to  slaughter  they  submit,  and  even 
seem  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  work. 

"Glass  polishing,  an  industry  carried  on  in  Chicago  to  a 
great  extent,  is  dangerous  to  the  health  of  the  workmen 
in  that  the  powder  with  which  the  edges  of  glass  are 
treated  contains  60  to  70  per  cent  of  oxide  of  lead.  In 
file  cutting  the  operators  are  constantly  subjected  to  tin- 
slow  and  steady  growth  of  industrial  disease. 

"It  is  sufficient  here  to  state  that  the  risks  inseparable 
from  these  two  occupations  are  greatly  augmented  by  the 
evil  conditions  under  which  the  trades  are  conducted,  and 
which  can  be  remedied  only  by  a  thorough  organization  of 
the  men  and  the  proper  enforcement  of  the  State  factory 
laws.  Cleanliness,  proper  ventilation,  sanitary  conditions 
and  reasonable  hours  of  labor,  with  all  that  is  entailed  and 
understood  by  these  simple  sounding  remedies,  would 
revolutionize  the  health  statistics  of  all  the  above-men- 
tioned trades  and  callings. 

"Women  employed  as  makers  of  feather  ornaments 
suffer  greatly.  Both  the  lungs  and  the  eyes  suffer  from 
the  fine  particles  of  feathers  and  feather  dust,  and  in- 
flammation and  consumption  follow  as  certainly  as  night 
follows  day.  THREE  YEARS  IN  THE  LENGTH  OF 
TIME  A  WOMAN  IS  ABLE  TO  WORK  AT  THIS 
TRADE.  The  health  of  artificial  flower  makers  is  en- 
dangered on  account  of  the  poisons  used  in  colors.  PA- 
RALYSIS IS  THEIR  FATE,  AND  IT  LASTS  LONG 


TRADES  UNIONS.  117 

AFTER  THE  WORK  HAS  BEEN  ABANDONED,  AND 
IS  MORE  TIMES  THAN  NOT  INCURABLE. 

"[These  are  the  future  mothers  of  the  working  class. 
Made  unhealthy  by  a  system  that  forces  them  to  do  work 
that  ought  to  be  done  by  machines.  Poisoned  until  they 
are  filled  with  disease,  their  nervous  system  shattered, 
their  whole  life  being  ruined  by  an  inhuman  method  of 
extracting  wealth  out  of  the  toil  and  hardships  of  the 
future  mothers  of  the  race.] 

AND  THIS  IS  HELL. 

"Chicago  has  several  thousand  metal  polishers.  Laws 
have  been  passed  for  their  protection,  yet  no  complete 
cure  of  the  many  evils  endangering  their  health  is  possible 
until  a  change  is  made  in  the  methods  employed  in  the 
work.  A  couple  of  thousand  more  operate  emery  wheels, 
polishing  tools,  metals  and  decorating  glass.  Emery  dust 
and  acids  combined  work  injuries  to  the  health  of  the 
worker.  Woodworkers,  about  12,000  in  this  city,  work  in 
fine  clouds  of  dust,  which  it  is  impossible  entirely  to  re- 
move. 

"Workers  in  phosphorous  are  subject  to  a  variety  of  bone 
diseases.  Workers  in  zinc  or  any  other  materials  in  which 
arsenic  figures,  are  in  dangerous  employment.  Persons 
who  cork  up  wines  and  mineral  waters,  using  galvanized 
wire,  suffer  from  irritations.  Lime  burning  brings  nerv- 
ous diseases  on  account  of  the  fumes  of  carbon  dioxide. 
Brickmaking,  tile  and  terra  cotta  working,  especially  in 
glazed  work  where  sulphuric  acid  figures,  is  dangerous. 


118  TRADES  UNIONS. 

Mercurial  tremor  comes  to  anyone  working  about  quick- 
silver. Tobacco  workers,  millers,  moldera  and  chimney 
sweeps  are  all  subject  to  vegetable  poisoning.     Lapidai 

and  jewelers  have  eye  affections. 

"Most  labor  men  have  read  more  or  Less  of  the  con- 
ditions existing  in  some  of  the  cities  of  northern  V 
consin,  but  I  must  say  the  t'ew  years  1  work,  d  in  the  city 
of  Oshkosh,  and  thinking  the  worsl  conditions  in  the 
world  existed  there,  found  I  was  entirely  mistaken  when 
I  saw  the  conditions  in  this  city.  Never  before  was  tl 
so  much  need  of  unions  as  there  is  lure  today." 

Can  anyone  deny  that  labor  has  a  right  to  organiz  ■ 
unions,  or  to  go  into  politics  to  find  a  remedy  for  all  the 
wrongs  heaped  upon  them?  And  this  is  what  labor  is  do- 
ing. This  is  what  all  of  the  unions  will  finally  come  to. 
As  intelligence  increases,  the  working  people  demand 
better  conditions  and  better  and  more  humane  hours  of 
toil.    Bishop  Potter  says: 

BISHOP  POTTEE  ON  LABOR. 
(A  Reported  Interview.) 

"I  have  stood  by  the  open  excavation  of  the  new 
underground  railroad  in  New  York  City,  looking  at  the 
men  digging.  They  have  told  me  they  get  two  dollars  a 
day  for  fair  days  when  the  work  could  go  on.  Living  is 
expensive  in  New  York.  These  are  not  the  submerged; 
they  are  men  of  brawn  and  health.    They  are  the  'labor.' 

"I  have  gone  through  the  corridors  of  the  fashionable 
hotels  at  midnight  hours  and  looked  on  the  diners  and 


TEADES  UNIONS.  119 

winery  the  evening  dress  of  men  and  women,  with  liveried 
waiters  obsequiously  serving  .the  viands  of  all  lands. 

"These  are  the  'employers.' 

"Are  the  interests  of  the  two  classes  mutual?  Can 
easy-going  optimism  conjure  up  any  relationship  between 
the  two  ?    Can  any  bridge  span  the  chasm  between  them  ? 

"When  I  go  through  our  factories  and  see  fine-able- 
bodied,  dexterous,  earnest  men  working  nine  hours  every 
day  and  every  year  a  life  time  through,  fashioning  the 
uncouth  raw  material  of  wood  and  metal  and  marble  into 
house  material,  I  ask  myself,  'Will  the  laborer  have  any 
of  these  polished  and  luxurious  appliances  in  the  home  of 
his  family  or  will  they  only  go  into  the  houses  of  the  well- 
to-do,  the  mansions  of  the  rich,  the  'employer*  class  ?  Are 
the  interests  of  the  laborer  and  the  capitalist  mutual  in 
this  work? 

"I  know  full  well  that  many  will  say  that  money  pay- 
ment settles  the  whole  score;  but  even  if  that  were  so,  is 
there  any  mutuality  when  one  makes  and  the  other  en- 
joys ?" 

Several  years  ago,  at  Chicago,  the  Vice  President  of  the 
Trades  Assembly  welcomed  the  visitors  in  the  following 
sarcastic  language.    He  said: 

"We  would  wish  to  bid  you  welcome  to  a  prosperous 
city,  but  truth  will  not  justify  the  assertion.  Things  are 
here  as  they  are,  but  not  as  they  should  be.  We  bid  you 
welcome  in  the  name  of  a  hundred  monopolists,  and  of 
fifty  thousand  tramps,  here  where  mammon  holds  high 


120  TRADES  UNIONS. 

carnival  in  palaces,  while  mothers  arc  heartbroken,  chil- 
dren are  starving,  and  men  are  looking  in  vain  for  work. 
We  bid  you  welcome  in  the  name  of  a  hundred  thou  si  ml 
idle  men,  in  the  name  of  those  edifices  dedicated  to  the 
glory  of  God,  but  whose  doors  are  closed  at  night  to  the 
starving  and  poor;  in  the  name  of  the  ministers  who  fat- 
ten from  the  vineyards  of  God,  forgetting  that  God's  chil- 
dren are  hungry  and  have  no  place  to  lay  their  heads; 
in  the  name  of  the  pillars  of  the  sweating  Bystem,  of  the 
millionaires  and  deacons,  whose  souls  are  endangered  by 
their  appetite  for  gold;  in  the  name  of  the  wage-worl 
who  sweat  blood  which  is  coined  into  golden  ducal 

• 
Mr.  Potter  Palmer  of  Chicago  said:    "For  ten  years  I 

made  as  desperate  a  fight  against  organized    labor   as 

ever  was  made  by  mortal  man.     It  cost  me  considerably 

over  $1,000,000  to  learn  that  there  is  no  labor  so  skilled, 

so  intelligent,  so  faithful  as  that  which  is  governed  by  an 

organization  whose  officials  are  well  balanced,  level-headed 

men.     *     *     *    I  now  employ  none  but  organized  labor, 

and  never  have  the  least  trouble,  each  believing  that  the 

one  has  no  right  to  oppress  the  other/' 

But  all  employers  are  not  so  friendly  to  organized  labor 
as  Mr.  Potter  Palmer.  Many  are  bitterly  antagonistic  to 
it,  and  seek  to  destroy  the  unions  whenever  and  where- 
ever  possible.  Yet  the  more  capital  fights  labor  organiza- 
tions,  the  more  they  will  strengthen  and  fortify  them- 
Belves.    In  fact,  the  wrongs  and  oppression  of  capital  in 


TRADES  UNIONS.  121 

the  first  place  are  the  cause  of  these  organizations.  I 
quote  the  Cleveland  Citizen: 

"The  following  is  a  condensed  but  incomplete  list  of 
judicial  and  legislative  outrages  that  have  been  heaped 
upon  organized  labor  during  the  past  year.  The  Citizen 
does  not  claim  that  the  list  is  absolutely  correct  in  detail 
any  more  than  that  it  is  complete,  but  in  a  general  sense 
it  proves  pretty  conclusively  that  the  only  'recognition' 
that  labor  receives  at  the  hands  of  the  governing  powers — 
despite  labor's  loyalty  to  the  capitalistic  Republican  and 
Democratic  parties  and  its  habit  of  voting  its  capitalistic 
'friends'  into  office — comes  in  the  shape  of  kicks  and 
cuffs: 

"Pensylvania  Supreme  Court  decided  that  glass  work- 
ers had  no  right  to  demand  that  apprentices  join  their 
union  or  that  only  unionists  be  employed. 

"Molders  of  Cleveland  injunctioned. 

"Supreme  Court  of  South  Dakota  disfigured  referendum 
law. 

"Attorney  General  of  Connecticut  stated  eight-hour  law 
would  not  be  enforced. 

"Chicago  machinists  injunctioned. 

"Illinois  trade  union  legislative  committee  issues  state- 
ment in  effect  that  all  labor  laws  had  been  defeated. 

"Chicago  Appellate  Court  handed  down  decision  declar- 
ing picketing  unconstitutional. 

"Chicago  court  decides  that  blacklisting  on  the  part  of 
employers  is  lawful  and  constitutional. 


122  TRADES  UNIONS. 

"New  York  Supreme  Court  injunctioned  brewery  work- 
ers from  boycotting  a  scab  brewery. 

"Retail  clerks  at  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  injunctioned 
against  boycotting  and  sued  for  damages. 

"Court  in  Jersey  City  decided  that  il  was  unlawful  for 
girl  strikers  to  'make  faces'  at  scabs. 

"Cleveland  machinists  injunctioned. 

"Several  New  York  machinists  fined  for  picketing. 

"Pennsylvania  unionists  report  that  the  Legislature  de- 
feated all  labor  bills. 

"Kentucky  court  decides  that  strikers  have  no  right  to 
collect  or  pay  assessments  or  order  others  on  strike. 

"Jury  in  Anderson  County,  South  Carolina,  decides  that 
plantation  owners  had  the  right  to  force  contract  labor  to 
work. 

"Molders  and  machinists  at  York,  Pa.,  injunctioned. 

"Silk  weavers  at  Paterson,  N.  J.,  injunctioned. 

"Cooks,  waiters  and  bartenders  at  San  Francisco  in- 
junctioned. 

"Cincinnati  machinists  injunctioned. 

"Hamilton,  0.,  machinsts  injunctioned. 

"Unionists  in  Dayton,  0.,  injunctioned  and  sued  for 
$25,000  damages. 

"Striking  molders  at  York,  Pa.,  fined  heavily  and  im- 
prisoned for  contempt. 

"Attorney  General  of  Minnesota  practically  kills  eight- 
hour  law. 


TRADES  UNIONS.  123 

"Iowa  court  declares  that  anti-trust  law  can  be  enforced 
against  trade  unions. 

"Ohio  Supreme  Court  knocks  out  law  requiring  that 
convict-made  goods  be  marked  as  such. 

"Machinists  of  Derby,  Conn.,  injunctioned,  put  under 
$5,000  bonds  and  attachment  of  $25,000  put  against  them. 

"Ohio  Supreme  Court  kills  the  law  providing  for 
screening  of  coal. 

"Silk  weavers  at  Paterson,  N.  J.,  fined  and  jailed  for 
soliciting  others  to  not  take  their  jobs. 

"Waiter  at  Ansonia,  Conn.,  fined  for  calling  a  scab  "a 
scab." 

"Metal  polishers  at  Dayton,  O.,  assessed  $586  as  costs  to 
pay  for  injunction  served  against  them  by  bosses,  and 
made  answerable  for  $25,000  damages. 

"Woodworkers'  organizer  jailed  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y., 
as  a  "nuisance." 

"Kansas  City  machinists  injunctioned. 

"Machinists  of  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  injunctioned. 

"Machinists  of  Boston  injunctioned. 

"Machinists  of  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  restrained. 

"Machinists  of  Ansonia,  Conn.,  injunctioned. 

"Machinists  of  Northport,  Wash.,  injunctioned. 

"Machinists  and  others  injunctioned  at  Seattle,  Wash. 

"Cigarmakers  of  Media,  Pa.,  restrained. 

"Second  injunction  hurled  at  Kansas  City  machinists 
and  unionist  given  four  months  for  disobeying  same. 


124  TRADES  UNIONS. 

"Injunction  hurled  at   pressed   brickmakeri!   ol  lioss- 

ville,  0. 

"Carriagemakers  of  Cincinnati  injunctioned, 

"Musicians  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  injunctioned. 

"Unions  of  Porto  Rico  suppressed  and  manj  membei 
fined  and  imprisoned. 

"Machinists  of  Buffalo  given  >nd  dose  of  injunc- 

tion. 

"Machinists  and  molders  of  Chicago  given  a  second  do 

of  injunction. 

"Chicago  union  machinist  pronounced  guilty  of  violat- 
ing an  injunction  for  saying  to  a  Bcab,  'Say,  may  I  talk  to 

you?' 

"Printers  injunctioned  at    Bammond,   End.,  and  later 

unionist  imprisoned. 

"Iron  and  steel  workers  injunctioned  at  (anal  Dover,  0. 

"Postal  department  rules  that  journals  owned  by  labor 
organizations  are  not  privileged  to  publish  advertisement 
Amalgamated  Association,  miners  and  other  union-  some- 
what crippled. 

"Postal   department   suppresses    Wilshire's    Challenge, 
the  Farmers'  Advocate  and  is  after  the  Appeal  to  Reason. 

"California  Supreme  Court  cripples  a  referendum  law. 

"Postal  department  forces  President  of  Omaha  C.  L.  T. 
to  resign  his  office  or  leave  the  service. 

"Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  declares  injunctions 
against  trade  unions  constitutional. 

"Court  injunctions  hurled,  Pinkertons  imported,  and 


TRADES  UNIONS.  135 

police  commit  outrages  against  strikers  in  San  Francisco. 

"Flint  glassworkers  of  Eaton,  Ind.,  injunctioned  and 
sued  for  $10,000  damages. 

"More  union  printers  arrested  in  New  York  for  'con- 
spiracy' for  boycotting. 

'•Seattle  unionist  jailed  for  'inciting  to  riot'  in  carrying 
a  boycott  banner. 

"Authorities  move  to  wipe  out  organization  of  workmen 
in  Tampa,  Fla.,  and  protect  bosses  who  kidnapped  strikers 
and  imported  contract  labor  and  scabs. 

"Moklers  at  York,  Pa.,  given  a  second  dose  of  injunc- 
tion. 

"Buffalo  unionist  fined  $560  for  preventing  six  scabs 
from  going  to  Cleveland  to  take  strikers'  places. 

•Custom  clothing  workers  of  Chicago  injunctioned 
from  writing  or  telegraphing  name  of  unfair  firm  or  pub- 
lishing the  fact  that  said  firm  does  not  use  the  union  label. 

"Iglesias  arrested  and  sentenced  to  three  years'  im- 
prisonment in  Porto  Pico,  where  he  was  organizing  work- 
ers, for  having  led  strike  two  years  ago. 

"Cincinnati  earriagemakers  given  a  second  injunction. 

"Miners  of  Hopkins  county,  Ky.,  injunctioned,  evicted 
and  prohibited  from  camping  on  land  they  were  given  the 
right  so  to  do. 

'•Philadelphia  building  trades  unions  injunctioned. 

"Zanesville  carriage  workers  and  metal  mechanics  in- 
junctioned. 

"What  does  this  long  roll  of  tyranny  teach?     This: 


126  TRADES  UNIONS. 

Capital  controls  the  governing  power  and  ogee  it  I    Thi 
fore,  Labor  controlling  the  votes,  they  should  be  used  to 
capture  that  power  and  muzzle  it!" 

In  the  face  of  present  conditions,  then,  it  is  folly  to 
plead  for  harmony  between  Capital  and  Labor.  As  well 
try  to  harmonize  fire  and  powder  as  these  two  elements. 
Capital  is  combining  in  trusts,  with  every  promise  of  the 
strongest  Plutocracy  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  also 
Labor  is  organizing  into  Unions,  stronger  than  at  any  time 
in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Carroll  D.  Wright  says  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  has  500,000  members,  the  Knights  of  Labor  150,- 
000,  and  the  American  Railway  Union  150,000.  Other 
local  and  national  unions  have  a  total  membership  of 
600,000,  making  a  grand  total  of  1,400,000  ACTIVE, 
WORKING  members  of  trades  unions.  Many  hundred 
thousands  of  workers  outside  the  union  are  influenced  and 
controlled  by  them.  They  are  popular  with  the  working 
classes  generally  because  they  keep  up  the  price  of  labor. 

The  enormous  power  of  Trades  Unions,  then,  is  only 
equalled  by  the  enormous  power  of  combined  Capital. 

I  believe  heartily  that  some  day  these  two  giants  will 
clasp  hands  in  harmony  and  peace — but  not  until  after  the 
Revolution,  and  until  they  have  clashed  in  a  terrible 
struggle. 


CHAPTER  VII, 


STRIKES. 


Their  Cause,  History  and  Kesults — Amazing  Condition  of 

Affairs  in  "Free"  ( ?)  America— Facts  That 

Freeze  the  Blood. 


It  is  contended  by  many  that  there  never  will  be  any 
danger  of  a  great  clash  between  capital  and  labor;  that 
the  facts  in  the  case  do  not  warrant  any  such  prophesies; 
and  that  before  long  all  labor  troubles  will  be  settled  by 
arbitration. 

But  is  this  true?  Let  us  look  around  us;  let  us  see  if 
there  is  any  evidence  to  substantiate  these  optimistic 
views. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  great  coal  strike  going  on 
in  Pennsylvania  right  now.  President  Roosevelt  sent 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  the  United  States  Labor  Commissioner, 
to  investigate  and  make  a  report  of  the  condition  of 
things.  Editorially  the  St.  Louis  Post-Dispatch  says: 
A  SUPPRESSED  REPORT. 

"When  the  anthracite  strike  broke  out  the  President  di- 
rected Commissioner  of  Labor  Carroll  D.  Wright  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  ground,  investigate  and  make  a  report. 

(127) 


128  STRIKES. 

"Mr.  Wright  made  his  report  to  President    Roosevelt 

eight  weeks  ago.  Mr.  Roosevelt  .-aid  it  would  be  made 
public.  But  since  then  nothing  has  been  heard  or  seen  of 
the  document. 

"Why? 

"This  question  is  being  asked  with  considerable  feeling 
in  the  regions  directly  affected  by  the  strike. 

"It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  report  contains 
something  pertinent  and  interesting.  If  it  were  a  dull, 
routine  paper  its  publication  would  not  have  been  de- 
layed.   Evidently  Mr.  Wright  said  thing 

"What  did  he  say  ? 

"The  Post-Dispatch  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
in  1901  the  output  of  anthracite  coal  exceeded  by  more 
than  9,000,000  tons  the  output  of  1900.  It  can  hardly  be 
contended  that  the  enormous  increase — IT  per  cent — was 
in  response  to  current  demand.  The  question  is,  was  it 
because  the  strike  was  foreseen,  and  if  foreseen^  why? 

"Does  Mr.  Wright  ask  and  answer  this  question  ? 

"Let  us  have  the  report.  The  President  will  not  deny 
the  public  right  to  it." 

Again,  the  same  paper  prints  the  following: 
"Special  to  the  Post-Dispatch. 

"WILKESBARRE,  PA.,  May  21.— Two  regiments  of 
the  National  Guard  are  already  under  orders  in  anticipa- 
tion of  trouble  at  the  coal  mines.  The  Ninth  Regiment 
of  the  National  Guard,  with  headquarters  here;  the 
Thirteenth,  with  headquarters    at    Scranton,     and    the 


STRIKES.  129 

Fourth  are  under  orders  to  be  in  readiness  for  action. 
The  men  have  been  ordered  to  take  home  their  kits  and 
be  prepared  for  a  hurry  call. 

"Armored  cars,  bullet  proof,  loopholed  and  bristling 
with  rifle  barrels  and  revolvers,  are  to  be  used  by  the 
coal  barons  in  a  war  for  the  destruction  of  the  miners' 
unions. 

"Barricades  are  being  thrown  up  at  the  mines  for  the 
sheltering  of  uniformed  guards,  of  whom  between  3000 
and  4000  have  already  been  sworn  in  to  shoot  down  the 
strikers  if  they  threaten  violence. 

"Two  hundred  men  were  sworn  in  today  and  at  least  600 
more  are  to  be  sworn  in. 

"The  armored  cars  have  been  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
anthracite  fields." 

Another  paper  prints  the  following: 

"At  Newport  News,  Va.,  the  agent  for  the  Pinkertons 
hired  a  lot  of  'cow-punchers,'  men  who  spend  their  time 
on  the  cattle  ships  which  ply  between  American  and 
European  ports.  These  rough  fellows  have  been  supplied 
with  rifles  and  will  be  shipped  like  any  other  cattle  to 
the  mining  districts  of  Pennsylvania." 

Does  this  look  like  there  is  any  great  love  lost  between 
labor  and  capital?  Does  the  millenium  seem  at  hand 
when  such  things  exist  ?  It  is  an  idle  dream  to  think  that 
there  will  be  any  reconciliation  between  these  two  enemies 
in  the  near  future. 

Labor  has  a  grievance  and  is  daily  becoming  less  dis- 
cs) 


130  STRIKES. 

posed  to  give  in  for  the  sake  of  peace.    Afl  long  ai  wide 

inequality  prevails;  as  long  as  hardships  are  imposed:  N 
long  will  the  grievance  last.  And  these  inequalities  and 
grievances  will  last.    The  Appeal  to  Reason  Bays: 

"Every  working  day  in  the  year,  Mr.  Schwab  of  the 
Steel  Trust  is  paid  a  salary  of  $3,205.  The  average  wag. 
of  men  who  produce  all  that  wealth  is  le^s  than  $9  per 
day.  In  other  words,  it  takes  the  combined  wages  of  1,325 
wage-slaves  to  produce  the  amount  paid  to  one  man  be- 
cause he  has  the  ability  to  prevent  the  laborers  from  get- 
ting what  they  earn." 
Bishop  Potter  says : 

"In  railways  and  waterways  we  find  men  who  have  never 
seen  their  employers.  And  as  you  try  to  touch  one  of 
these  lives  with  your  own  you  have  a  sort  of  start,  for  you 
cannot  but  regard  him  as  a  mere  cog  in  the  great  wheel  of 
commerce;  and  so  they  say  that  some  lives  must  be  sac- 
rificed in  the  coal  hole  that  the  great  column  of  commerce 
must  move  on.  You  may  call  the  theories  by  what  name 
you  will,  they  are  of  the  devil.  It  is  a  question  whether 
wc  ought  to  encourage  the  production  of  goods,  with  in- 
difference to  the  infamous  methods  of  their  production." 
As  long  as  these  conditions  prevail,  all  hope  of  peace  is 
useless.    The  very  opposite  will  be  the  result. 

My  purpose  is  to  show  that  a  Revolution  is  coming,  and 
to  point  out  and  analyze  each  element  that  will  take 
part.  The  labor  trouble  is  one  and  has  a  most  important 
bearing  on  the  subject.     I  wish  to  point  out   briefly 


STRIKES.  131 

and  clearly  how  serious  is  the  labor  trouble,  and  how  firm- 
ly each  side  is  intrenched  in  its  convictions  and  how  stub- 
bornly they  will  oppose  each  other. 

Capital  claims  the  working  people  are  too  arbitrary, 
and  that  they  cannot  permit  Labor  Unions  to  dictate 
terms,  or  run  their  business  for  them.  That,  having  large 
sums  of  money  invested,  they  have  more  at  stake  than  the 
working  people,  who  perhaps  are  only  employed  tem- 
porarily. And,  further,  they  claim  they  have  a  right  to 
employ  whomsoever  they  will — union  or  non-union — and 
that  labor  is  in  the  wrong  when  it  demands  that  non- 
union labor  be  discharged.  Further,  they  claim  that 
Trades  Unions  are  also  trusts. 

In  answer  to  all  of  this  the  working  classes  claim  they 
have  more  at  stake  than  those  who  have  capital  invested, 
because  their  daily  bread;  yes,  their  very  lives,  and  the 
lives  of  their  families,  depend  upon  them  having  occupa- 
tion and  wages  enough  to  subsist  upon;  that  capital  in 
controlling  and  giving  out  work  controls  and  gives  out  life 
to  whomsoever  they  please.  In  other  words,  he  who  con- 
trols another  economically  virtually  has  that  person  en- 
slaved. No  other  control  is  necessary.  The  question 
then  is  lifted  to  a  moral  plane.  The  rights  of  property 
and  statute  law  all  fade  into  insignificance  before  the 
wrongs  of  slavery. 

If,  then,  labor  is  in  the  right  morally,  it  undoubtedly 
will  receive  popular  support  ultimately,  and  will  grow 
stronger  and  more   aggressive. 


132  STRIKES. 

At  present  organized  labor  is  a  sleeping  giant,  with 
scarcely  a  realization  of  its  power.  The  strikes  and  dem- 
onstrations we  have  witnessed  thus  far  are  only  the  mut- 
terings  and  tossings  of  the  sleeping  Hercules,  as  though 
in  troubled  dreams. 

But  let  him  awake.  Then  the  real  trouble  will  come. 
The  strikes  that  have  taken  place  will  pale  into  insignifi- 
cance, compared  to  those  that  are  destined  to  shake  this 
government  to  its  foundations. 

Yet,  to  gain  an  idea  of  what  will  take  plaee,  and  what 
it  will  be  like,  we  must  look  into  a  few  of  the  present-day 
troubles  and  difficulties,  and  glance  over  a  list  of  the 
number  in  progress  now. 

Not  long  after  I  had  settled  in  St.  Louis  the  famous 
street  car  strike  took  place,  whieh  was  one  of  the  notable 
ones  of  history. 

The  Transit  Co.,  already  referred  to,  undertook  to 
break  up  the  union  of  its  employees.  The  latter  struck 
and  the  citizens  took  sides  with  them.  As  has  already 
been  stated,  this  company  had  established  itself  by  stu- 
pendous fraud  and  villainy;  had  defied  the  law  after  it  was 
established;  had  watered  its  stock  up  to  $90,000,000  and 
was  now  trying  in  every  way  to  squeeze  a  dividend  out  of 
the  public  and  its  employees.  In  this  half-year  the  St. 
Louis  Transit  Company  carried  64,805,033  "revenue  pas- 
sengers" in  2,442,178  trips,  as  compared  to  55,924,587  pas- 
sengers in  2,531,388  trips  in  the  first  six  months  of  1901. 
The  passenger  patronage  shows  an  increase  for  the  six 


STRIKES.  133 

months  of  8,880,446  fares  and  a  decrease  of  89,210  in  the 
number  of  trips. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  ears  were  rushed  at  break-neck 
speed  through  the  streets,  killing  and  maiming  the  citi- 
zens in  its  wild  desire  to  increase  its  profits. 

Never  was  a  corporation  more  bitterly  hated  than  this 
one.  Yet  the  people  were  powerless,  and  stood  completely 
at  the  mercy  of  this  law-breaking  trust. 

It  was  no  wonder  the  people  sympathized  with  the 
strikers.  When  the  strike  was  declared,  the  public  re- 
fused to  patronize  the  cars,  and  the  amazing  spectacle  was 
presented  of  cars  on  a  score  of  lines  being  run  to  and  fro 
without  any  passengers.  The  people  walked  to  work; 
some  rode  in  wagons,  paying  five  times  the  price,  rather 
than  patronize  this  hated  institution. 

It  wasn't  long  before  the  company  saw  they  would  have 
to  do  something  to  make  the  strikers  unpopular  with 
the  public.  This  they  proceeded  to  do.  They  had  hire- 
lings blow  up  street  cars,  cut  and  pull  down  wires,  assault 
the  scab  motormen  and  conductors,  and  obstruct  the 
tracks  with  rocks,  lumber,  rubbish,  etc.  Men  were  caught 
blowing  up  street  cars,  arrested  and  tried.  In  the  trial 
it  came  out  that  they  were  hired  by  the  company  to  do 
these  things.  Of  course,  many  people  were  guilty  of  these 
offenses,  under  the  mistaken  idea  that  they  were  aiding 
the  strikers.  Of  course  they  only  injured  the  cause.  I 
saw  many  acts  of  violence  such  as  these,  but  not  one  of 


134  STRIKES. 

them  by  the  strikers.  Never  one  did  public  .sympathy 
side  with  the  Transit  Company. 

The  hatred  of  the  people  was  further  increased  by  the 
organization  of  the  Posse  Comitatus.  The  Governor  had 
refused  to  send  the  militia  to  the  city  in  aid  of  the  police, 
and  so  this  body  was  organized. 

Immediately  they  began  to  bully,  beat  and  shoot  at 
citizens  on  the  slightest  provocation.  Many  people  were 
wounded  and  a  number  killed  by  these  hirelings  before 
the  great  and  awful  tragedy  of  June  10  was  enacted. 

On  that  day  the  strikers  gave  a  picnic  across  the  river, 
at  East  St.  Louis,  with  the  object  of  raising  funds.  Re- 
turning toward  evening,  they  marched  across  the  bridge 
and  straight  out  Washington  avenue,  which  is  a  continua- 
tion of  the  bridge.  The  headquarters  of  the  Posse  Comi- 
tatus was  at  Sixth  and  Washington  avenue,  and  only  three 
blocks  from  the  bridge. 

Headed  by  a  brass  band,  the  procession  marched 
straight  out  Washington  avenue,  passed  the  headquarters, 
just  as  any  parade  would  do,  following  the  course  of  many 
a  parade  before,  and  along  the  path  that  many  have  taken 
since. 

As  they  passed  the  headquarters  the  bloody  massacre 
occurred. 

It  is  a  disputed  question  as  to  which  side  started  the 
i  rouble.  The  strikers  claim  they  were  not  disturbing  the 
peace.  The  Posse  claim  some  one  threw  a  piece  of  brick. 
Perhaps  some  bystander  did.    There  is  no  proof.     It  is 


STRIKES.  135 

almost  a  certainty  that  no  one  in  the  parade  did.  Every- 
body testified  that  the  posse  were  more  than  anxious  to 
begin  firing,  which  they  did  with  their  deadly  riot  guns, 
for  in  an  instant  they  brought  these  deadly  weapons  into 
play,  and  fired  right  and  left  into  the  crowd.  Unmindful 
of  the  shrieks  of  the  wounded,  that  lay  scattered  about, 
torn  and  maimed,  and  unmoved  by  the  sight  of  the  dead, 
they  fired  again  and  again.  The  bystanders  said  hundreds 
of  shots  must  have  been  fired,  and  the  spectacle  was  awful. 
The  greatest  confusion  prevailed.  A  number  were  dead 
and  a  greater  number  were  wounded.  Many  ^who  had 
been  shot  were  carried  away  by  friends  and  were  never 
counted  in  the  list  of  dead  and  wounded. 

All  told,  during  the  spring  and  summer  that  the  strike 
lasted,  there  were  about  27  killed  and  nearly  100  wounded. 

The  Transit  Company  won  and  completely  broke  up 
the  union. 

Everybody  remembers  the  terrible  and  bloody  Home- 
stead Strike.  The  working  people  will  never  forget  it, 
nor  Mr.  Carnegie  and  Mr.  Frick. 

The  detailed  account  of  one  bloody  strike  is  the  story 
of  all  of  them.  And  there  are  so  many!  To  give  an  idea 
of  their  number  I  give  you  several  lists  of  strikes  taken 
from  different  papers  during  the  Spring  and  Summer  of 
1902.    It  cannot  be  contemplated  with  indifference: 

"Massachusetts  averages  fifteen  labor  strikes  per  month. 

"Gloucester,  Mass.,  May  1.— Seven  hundred  quarrymen 
struck  for  a  nine-hour  day. 


136  STRIKES. 

"Durango,  Col.,  May  1.— Three  hundred  miners  struck 
for  more  pay. 

"Rochester,  N.  Y.,  May  1.— Five  hundred  coal  wagon 
drivers  are  on  strike. 

"New  Briatain,  Conn.,  May  1.— Fifty  carpenters  were 
locked  out  in  honor  of  May  Day. 

"Barre,  Vt.,  May  1.— About  500  granite  workers  struck 
for  more  pay  and  a  shorter  work  day. 

"Port  Huron,  Mich.,  May  1.— About  500  men  are  out 
at  this  place  in  an  effort  to  increase  their  wages. 

"Cape  Ann,  Mass.,  May  1. — Five  hundred  granite  cut- 
ters struck  for  shorter  work  days  and  better  pay. 

"St.  Paul,  May  1. — Three  hundred  carpenters  went  on 
strike  for  an  eight-hour  day  and  better  wages. 

"Toronto,  Ont.,  May  1.— More  than  1,000  men  of  all 
trades  celebrated  May  Day  by  striking  for  an  increase  in 
wages. 

"Providence,  R.  I.,  May  1. — One  thousand  teamsters 
struck  for  recognition  of  their  union.  No  freight  was 
handled  all  day. 

"A  strike  among  Chicago  teamsters  has  affected  thir- 
teen mercantile  establishments,  and  further  trouble  is  ex- 
pected. 

"The  American  Woolen  Company's  weavers  are  nearly 
all  out  on  strike.  There  are  20,000  of  them  demanding 
better  treatment. 

"Sharon,  Pa.,  May  1. — Three  hundred  structural  work- 


STRIKES.  137 

ers  of  the  American  Bridge  Company  went  on  strike  May 
1  for  $4  and  an  eight-hour  day. 

"Bridgeport,  Conn.,  May  1. — Two  hundred  carpenters, 
plumbers  and  hod  carriers  struck  for  a  minimum  wage  of 
$3  and  an  eight-hour  day. 

"Youngston,  0.,  Mav  1. — Two  thousand  men  in  the 
building  trades  laid  down  their  tools,  making  good  their 
demand  for  an  eight-hour  day  on  May  1 

"Reading,  Pa.,  May  1. — One  thousand  carpenters,  plan- 
ing mill  hands  and  hod  carriers  quit  work  because  the 
contractors  refused  to  sign  an  agreement. 

"Coal  miners  at  Springfield,  111.,  have  struck  because  the 
operators  refused  to  sign  the  agreement  that  would  favor 
the  men.    About  2,000  are  idle. 

"Jersey  City,  May  1. — Two  thousand  machinists  and 
bench  men  in  twelve  moulding  and  saw  mills  went  on 
strike  for  an  eight-hour  day  and  a  wage  of  $2.50. 

"Portland,  Ore.,  May  1. — Labor  situation  very  unset- 
tled. About  750  men  of  all  trades  are  on  strike  and  others 
threaten  to  lay  down  their  tools.  Shorter  work  days  and 
increased  wages  are  the  demands. 

"The  street  car  men  of  Chicago  are  organizing.  They 
will  demand  redress  of  grievances  and  a  strike  may  follow. 
The  labor  organizations  are  supporting  them,  and  a  lively 
time  is  expected,  if  the  men  are  not  given  their  rights.     ! 

"The  coal  miners  of  Michigan  are  striking  for  better 
conditions. 


138  STRIKES. 

"Six  different  trades  are  on  strike  in  Denver  for  ail 
eight-hour  day. 

"Singer  sewing  machine  workers  are  on  strike  They 
are  getting  prosperity  wages— $1.25  and  $1.35  per  day. 

"Patterson,  N.  J.,  has  lots  of  trouble.  About  4,500 
dyers  are  now  on  strike  because  their  wages  had  been  re- 
duced to  the  level  of  $6  per  week.  The  employers  pro- 
duce the  causes  that  end  in  lawlessness,  and  then  hurry  to 
the  press  and  lay  the  blame  on  the  anarchists. 

"Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  May  1.— Five  thousand  men  went  on 
strike  in  Buffalo,  including  carpenters,  plumbers  and  iron 
workers.  They  demanded  an  increase  from  thirty-seven 
and  one-half  cents  an  hour.  Bricklayers  and  masons  were 
granted  an  increase  and  did  not  strike. 

1  "Pittsburg,  Pa.,  May  1.— It  is  estimated  that  over  15,- 
000  men  went  on  strike  May  1st  in  this  one  city.  The  de- 
mand is  for  shorter  work  days,  and  increase  in  wages. 
Carpenters,  bricklayers,  plumbers,  hod  carriers,  bridge 
workers,  icemen,  etc.,  have  determined  to  have  more  of 
the  wealth  they  produce. 

"Paterson,  N.  J.,  May  1. — All  the  union  hod  carriers 
went  on  strike  for  an  eight-hour  day  and  thirty  cents  an 
hour.  The  electrical  workers  are  all  out.  Carpenters 
have  been  out  several  days,  and  it  is  said  that  one  of  the 
largest  contractors  signed  the  men's  agreement.  The 
silk  dyers  may  return  to  work  at  an  early  day.  Suffering 
has  compelled  them  to  alter  their  demands, 


STRIKES.  139 

'There  is  a  strike  of  engineers  in  Helena,  Montana,  and 
three  thousand  men  are  affected. 

"Weavers  in  Nutmeg  Silk  Mills,  South  Manchester, 
Conn.,  are  on  strike  against  reduction  of  wages. 

"At  Nashville,  Tenn.,  there  are  300  carpenters  strik- 
ing for  a  nine-hour  day  and  twenty-five  cents  an  hour. 

"Two  men  injured  and  twenty-four  arrested  as  a  result 
of  a  strike  riot  among  stone  masons  in  New  York  City. 

"Wire  frame  makers  of  New  York  City  are  striking 
against  reduction  of  wages.  It  was  shown  that  some  of 
them  made  as  high  as  $12  a  week,  and  the  firm  thinks  $9 
is  enough  for  a  wage-worker  to  live  on. 

"Chicago  firms  affected  by  strikes  are:  Chicago  Photo- 
Engraving  Company,  Franklin  Engraving  Company,  Rog- 
ers &  Wells,  J.  Manz  &  Co.,  George  A.  Reiman,  Barnes- 
Crosby  Company,  The  Osgood  Company,  P.  Zacker  &  Co., 
Jurgens  Bros.,  The  Rosenow  Company,  Illinois  Engraving 
Company,  Chicago  Engraving  Company,  Columbia  En- 
graving Company  and  Blomgren  Bros. 

"Two  thousand  wage  slaves  of  the  Coats  Thread  Trust 
are  on  strike  against  oppression  at  Pawtucket,  R.  I.  Why 
don't  they  vote  the  same  way  they  strike  ? 

"Three  thousand  people  are  out  of  work  as  a  result  of 
strike  of  weavers  in  Camden,  N.  J.  The  weavers  want  an 
increase  of  10  per  cent  to  meet  the  increased  cost  of  living. 

"Two  men  were  discharged  from  the  Oregon  Railroad 
and  Navigation  Cmpany  in  The  Dalles,  Ore.,  the  other  day 


140  STRIKES. 

for  being  workers  for  the  United  Brotherhood  of  Railway 
Employes. 

"There  is  almost  a  total  tie-up  in  the  building  trades  of 
Denver  as  a  result  of  5,000  members  of  the  union  going  on 
strike  in  sympathy  with  the  wood  workers,  who  are  de- 
manding an  eight-hour  day. 

"One  thousand  two  hundred  girls  employed  in  cigar 
works  at  Detroit  on  strike  because  of  their  great  prosperity. 
No  civilized  nation  would  have  conditions  that  forced  girls 
to  work  in  tobacco. 

"The  Western  Federation  of  Miners'  is  planning  to  ope- 
rate a  co-operative  mine.  Co-operation  is  in  the  air.  It 
will  sweep  the  world  one  fine  morning  like  a  pleasant 
breeze  on  a  mid-summer  day. 

"Paterson,  N.  J.,  bakers  are  planning  a  great  strike. 

"Chicago  bricklayers  have  struck  for  higher  wages. 

"Painters  in  Dayton,  0.,  have  struck  for  a  nine-hour 
day. 

"Galesburg,  111.,  carpenters  have  struck  for  an  eight- 
hour  day. 

"There  is  a  strike  among  the  weavers  in  Fitchburg, 
Mass. 

"Lowell,  Mass.,  is  threatened  with  a  strike  in  the  textile 
industry. 

"Six  different  trades  are  on  strike  in  Denver  for  the 
eight-hour  day. 

"Marble  workers  are  on  strike  for  higher  wages  at  New- 
ark, N.  J. 


STRIKES.  141 

"A  strike  is  brewing  in  the  soft  coal  fields  of  Virginia 
and  West  Virginia. 

"The  strike  of  brewery  workers  in  Cincinnati  has 
reached  large  proportions. 

"Toronto  painters  were  locked  out  for  demanding  thirty 
cents  an  hour. 

"Prosperity  has  hit  Boston  again,  1,600  brewery  work- 
ers are  striking  for  shorter  hours. 

"Ten  thousand  miners  are  striking  against  the  Roches- 
ter &  Pittsburg  Coal  and  Iron  Co." 

This  list  does  not  comprise  all  of  the  strikes  that  have 
taken  place  in  a  year,  but  during  a  period  of  from  30  to 
60  days. 

A  year's  list  would  be  ten  times  as  long. 

Compare  the  following  different  sentiments  and  you 
have  the  whole  situation  in  a  nutshell: 

"Judge  Baker  of  Indiana,  a  federal  judge,  said  that  men 
who  take  strikers'  places  should  carry  rapid  fire  guns, 
which  they  had  a  right  to  do  so  long  as  they  were  not  con- 
cealed. And  that  the  complaint  against  strikers  should 
be  amended  so  as  to  include  damages.  They  might  not 
have  any  propertv,  but  the  judgment  would  prevent  them 
ever  accumulating  any  property  and  that  officers  could 
take  their  clothing  if  they  found  them  in  bed !  And  labor 
unions,  the  votes  of  whose  members  elect  the  Republican 
party  that  appoints  such  judges,  should  not  go  into  poli- 
tics for  themselves." 

And  the  following  noble  expression: 


142  STRIKES. 

"I  am  wearv,  weary,  weary,  of  this  talk   about  on 
getting  up  above  his  fellows.     I  have  a  thousand  til 
more  respect  for  the  man  who  'goes  on  strike"  to  lighten 
the  burden  of  his  fellow  worker-  than  I  have  for  the  man 
who  for  his  own  selfish  ends  'would  lighten  his  emplo 
burden;'  for  the  sake  of  getting  to  be  a  'superior'  himself, 
getting  '$10,000  a  year,'  would  see  his  fellow  workmen 
trampled  on  and  devote  himself  to  'never  adding  to  the 
burden  of  his  superiors.'  "— Celia  B.  Whitehead. 

Arrayed  behind  these  two  sentiments  are  the  forces  of 
Capital  and  Labor.  It  is  a  fight  of  steel  bank  vaults 
against  human  stomachs.  But  the  cause  of  the  people  and 
labor  grows  stronger  every  day.  They  are  winning  slowly 
but  surely,  inch  by  inch.  At  last  Capital  will  make  one 
desperate  stand.  It  will  have  the  wealth  and  power,  ft 
will  control  the  government  and  the  army.  All  of  this 
will  be  used  against  the  people.  To  give  an  idea  of  the 
deadly  weapons  that  may  be  turned  against  the  people,  we 
quote  the  Pittsburg  Dispatch : 

MODERN  IMPLEMENTS  OF  WAR. 
"A  correspondent  of  the  Pittsburg  Dispatch  writes  from 
Washington,  D.  C. : 

"  'What  a  ghastly  curiosity  shop  are  the  stores  of  arms 
and  projectiles  and  warlike  models  of  all  kinds  in  various 
nooks  and  corners  of  the  War  and  Navy  Departments! 
They  are  scattered  and  meager  by  comparison,  to  be  sure, 
but  they  are  enough  to  set  the  most  thoughtless  a-think- 
ing  as  to  what  we  are  coming  to,  and  what  will  be  the  end 


STRIKES.  143. 

of  the  wonderful  impetus  of  invention  in  the  direction  of 
weapons  for  the  destruction  of  human  kind.  All  that  we 
possess  up  to  this  time,  in  this  our  new  country,  in  the  way 
of  examples  of  such  invention,  would  hardly  compare  in 
interest  or  volume  with  a  single  room  of  the  vast  collection 
in  the  old  Tower  of  London,  but  it  is  enough  to  tell  the 
whole  story.  To  look  at  all  this  murderous  machinery  one 
would  think  the  governors  of  the  world  were  bent  on  the 
extermination  of  the  human  race,  instead  of  its  improve- 
ment and  preservation. 

"  'Along  with  the  modern  inventions  which  enable  one 
man  to  kill  1,000  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  are  the  crude 
weapons  of  those  simpler  days  when  men  fought  hand  to 
hand  in  battle.  But  we  need  not  refer  to  them  to  illustrate 
progress  in  the  art  of  warfare.  Even  the  machinery  used 
in  the  very  latest  of  the  great  wars  is  now  antiquated. 
Were  a  new  Civil  War  to  begin  to-morrow  in  the  United 
States,  or  were  we  to  become  involved  in  a  war  with  a 
foreign  country,  we  could  as  soon  think  of  taking  wings 
and  battling  in  the  air  as  to  fight  with  the  weapons  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  A  few  of  the  guns  and  ships 
which  came  into  vogue  towards  the  closing  days  of  the 
war,  remodeled  and  improved  almost  out  of  their  original 
shape,  might  be  employed  under  some  conditions,  but  the 
great  bulk  of  the  murderous  machinery  would  be  sup- 
planted with  entirely  new  inventions,  compared  with 
which  the  best  of  the  ok1  would  be  weak  or  wholly  power- 
less.   I  never  was  more  forcibly  reminded  of  this  progress 


U4  STRIKES. 

in  the  domain  of  the  horrific  than  yesterday  when  on  an 
errand  to  the  Navy  Department  I  wu  shown  the  mod.l 
and  plans  of  the  new  Maxim  automatic  mitrailleuse.     It 
(and  the  Maxim  guns  with  other  names)  is  certainly  tl 
most  ingenious  and  the  wickedest    of    all     the    c-uriou- 
weapons  of  warfare  recently  invented.    It  is  the  intention 
to  manufacture  them  up  to  the  size  of  a  six-inch  cannon, 
which  will  automatically  fire  about  600  rounds  in  a  minute. 
This,  of  course,  has  been  exceeded  by  the  Gatling  and 
other  guns,  carrying  very  small  projectiles,  but  these,  com- 
pared with  the  Maxim,  are  cumbersome  to  operate,  re- 
quire more  attendants,  are  much  heavier  and  far  less  accu- 
rate.   One  man  can  operate  the  Maxim  gun,  or  one  wo- 
man, or  one  child,  for  that  matter,  and  after  setting  it 
going  the  gunner  can  stroll  away  for  a  quick  lunch  while 
his  gun  is  engaged  in  killing  a  few  hundred  people.    The 
gunner  sits  on  a  seat  at  the  rear  of  the  gun  behind  his 
bullet  proof  shield,  if  he  desires  to  use  one.     When  he 
wants  to  mow  down  an  army  in  a  few  minutes  he  simply 
waits  till  the  aforesaid  army  gets  into  a  position  favorable 
for  his  work.    Then  he  pulls  a  crank  which  fires  the  first 
cartridge,  and  the  work  of  the  automatic  machinery  be- 
gins.   The  explosion  of  the  first  cartridge  causes  a  recoil 
which  throws  the  empty  shell  out  of  the  breach,  brings  an- 
other shell  into  place  and  fires  it.    The  recoil  of  that  ex- 
plosion does  a  similar  service,  and  so  on  to  infinity.    It  is 
murder  in  perpetual  motion. 

"  'One  of  Mr.  Maxim's  inventions  is  called  the  "riot 


STRIKES.  145 

gun,"  a  light  little  affair  that  can  be  transported  in  one's 
arms  with  enough  ammunition  to  drive  any  ordinary  mob 
out  of  the  streets  or  out  of  existence.  It  is  curious  how 
all  of  the  most  recent  inventions  in  this  line  look  toward 
a  certainty  of  riotous  mobs.  Since  when  did  the  inventor 
turn  prophet  ?  Well,  this  "riot  gun"  can  be  worked  at  the 
rate  of  ten  murderous  shots  a  second,  with  the  gunner  all 
the  time  concealed,  and  in  perfect  safety,  even  from  a 
mob  armed  with  guns  or  even  pistols,  provided  that  same 
mob  does  not  conclude  to  make  a  rush  and  capture  gun 
and  gunner.  It  seems  to  be  expected  by  inventors  like  Mr. 
Maxim  that  modern  mobs  will  stand  in  the  streets  to  be 
shot  down  without  acting  either  on  the  defensive  or  the 
aggressive,  and  that  they  will  not  stand  around  safe  cor- 
ners with  bombs,  or  blow  up  or  burn  a  city  in  their  frenzy. 
However  this  may  be,  he  has  done  all  he  can  in  the  way  of 
a  gun  for  mobs.  This  little  weapon  can  carry  enough  am- 
munition with  it  to  clean  out  a  street  at  one  round,  and  in 
a  few  seconds,  and  it  can  be  operated  from  walls  or  win- 
dows with  as  great  facility  as  in  the  open  street.  With  a 
twist  of  the  wrist  it  can  be  turned  up  or  down  on  the  point 
of  its  carriage,  and  made  to  kill  directly  above  or  below  the 
gunner  without  endangering  the  life  or  limb  of  that  de- 
votee of  the  fine  art  of  murder.' " 

What  will  be  more  natural  than  for  those  in  power  to 
use  these  weapons  upon  the  masses  in  revolt  ?  They  will 
be  bent  upon  holding  the  situation,  and  perhaps  will  be 
convinced  they  are  in  the  right.    Feeling  called  upon  to 

(10) 


146  STRIKES. 

preserve  the  institutions  they  think  threatened,  they  will 
ston  at  nothing.  We  simply  ask  is  it  unreasonable  to  pre- 
dict that  strikes  will  be  one— only  one— of  the  factor-  in 
bringing  on  the  revolution? 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MACHINERY. 


Its  Development;  Its  Place  in  the  Economic  World— Its 

Eelation  to  Labor  and  Capital  and  the  Part 

It  Will  Act  In  the  Future. 


The  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery  into 
modern  industry  has  been  productive  of  both  good  and 
evil.  Like  fire,  it  is  both  a  good  and  a  bad  agent.  If  con- 
trolled judiciously  it  is  a  blessing;  if  employed  pro- 
miscously  and  recklessly,  it  may  produce  great  havoc. 
It  is  in  the  latter  way  that  machinery  has  been  intro- 
duced— planlessly,  and  without  any  regard  to  its  general 
and  ultimate  effect.  This  blindness  and  its  result  we  will 
consider. 

How  remarkable  that  such  a  powerful  and  good  agent 
can  become  so  perverted.  How  terrible  to  think  of  pos- 
sible great  blessings  turned  into  great  plagues.  Think  of 
the  immense  wealth  that  might  be  produced;  and  that 
might  add  to  the  comforts,  joy  and  happiness  of  the  race. 

And  yet  there  are  many  men  who  would  gladly  see  ma- 
chinery abolished,  and  hand  labor  instituted  once  more. 

This,  of  course,  will  be  attributed  to  ignorance  and  preju- 

(147) 


148  MACHINERY. 

dice,  and  to  a  view  that  is  so  narrow  that  it  has  not  taken 
in  the  whole  problem.  It  will  be  said  they  never  weigh 
the  good  against  the  bad  that  results  from  the  use  of 
labor-saving  machinery.  Maybe  they  don't.  And  yet  can 
they  be  blamed?  They  get  all  of  the  bad  and  very  little 
of  the  good.  Into  their  lives  have  come  more  of  the  bit- 
terness and  disappointments  than  the  blessings  and  helps 
incidental  to  the  employment  of  machinery.  Their  share 
has  been  reduced  wages,  uncertainty  of  work,  loss  of 
position,  and  worry,  with  a  small  per  cent  of  the  good 
things  that  go  with  it.  , 

A  brief  review  of  the  many  labor-saving  devices  adopted 
becomes  in  order.  So  many  have  been  added  daily  of 
recent  years  that  we  scarcely  notice  them.  There  are  too 
many  to  pay  attention  to  them  all. 

During  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
began  a  remarkable  change  in  the  methods  of  producing 
wealth  which  is  still  going  on.  This  change  was  ushered 
in  by  a  series  of  inventions.  Kay's  fly-shuttle  (1739), 
Hargreaves'  spinning  jenny  (1764),  Arkwright's  water 
frame  (1769),  Watt's  steam  engine,  invented  in  1769  and 
applied  to  the  manufacture  of  cotton  sixteen  years  later, 
Crompton's  mule  (1779),  Cartwright's  power  loom  (1789), 
and  Whitney's  cotton  gin  (1793). 

Since  that  time  invention  has  followed  invention  with 
astonishing  rapidity.  The  railroad,  the  steamboat,  the 
telegraph  and  the  telephone  have  come,  and  now  to  the 
power  of  steam  is  being  added  that  of  electricity.  The 


MACHINERY.  149 

story  of  the  introduction  of  modem  machinery  is  too 
long  to  trace  in  detail  here.  The  first  effect  on  the  hand 
workers  who  were  supplanted  by  machines  was  disastrous 
in  the  extreme.    Later  effects  are  little  better. 

Not  long  since  in  Pennsylvania,  within  the  brief  space 
of  six  hours  and  four  minutes  a  number  of  sheep  were 
shorn,  and  the  wool  put  through  all  the  processes  of  man- 
ufacture necessary  to  turn  it  into  a  suit  of  clothes. 

A  test  was  also  made  with  shoes.  A  steer  was  killed, 
the  hide  tanned,  turned  into  leather  and  made  into  shoes 
all  in  twenty-four  hours. 

In  an  interview  recently,  a  St.  Louis  shoe  manufacturer 
stated  for  the  Shoe  and  Leather  Gazette  that  by  the  aid 
of  new  turn  machines  his  concern  can  produce  about  400 
pairs  of  shoes  a  day;  one  operator  doing  the  work  former- 
ly requiring  eighteen  skilled  mechanics. 

The  new  glass  bottle  blowing  machine  is  pronounced  a 
success  by  the  trade.  One  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company's 
manufacturing  concerns  uses  10,000,000  bottles  a  year, 
and  the  president  of  the  company  says  the  machine-made 
bottle  is  entirely  satisfactory.  A  lamp  chimney  machine 
is  being  operated  in  Birmingham,  England,  and  a  plant  is 
being  built  in  Toledo,  O.,  to  manufacture  chimneys  by 
machinery  exclusively.  "With  one  unskilled  man  or  boy 
to  work  it  this  machine  does  the  labor  of  four  skilled  men 
by  the  old  process/'  says  a  writer  who  describes  its  work- 
ings. 

A  new  electrical  riveting  machine,  to  be  used  in  the 


150  MACHINERY. 

erection  of  large  buildings,  etc.,  and  thai  can  insert  1200 
rivets  in  ten  hours;  a  needle-making  machine  that  revo- 
lutionizes the  industry  by  destroying  hand  production  and 
turning  out  260  needles  per  minute;  and  a  new  sterotvp- 
ing  process  that  operates  automatically  and  displaces 
many  skilled  workers,  are  new  labor-saving  devices  an- 
nounced as  entering  the  market. 

The  printing  business  is  undergoing  changes  daily.  The 
linotype  is  fast  taking  the  place  of  type-setters.  But  that 
is  not  all.  Inside  of  a  year  a  new  automatic  type-setting 
machine  will  be  on  the  market  that  will  sell  for  $2,000. 
It  will  be  run  by  electricity  and  set  whole  words  at  a  single 
touch.  A  new  web  press  will  also  be  on  the  market  soon 
which  will  print  newspapers  faster  than  they  can  be 
counted  and  is  much  simpler  in  construction  than  the 
presses  now  in  use. 

The  following  is  from  St.  Louis  Labor: 

"A  basket  machine  has  recently  been  invented  which 
will  completely  revolutionize  the  basket  making  industry 
and  throw  thousands  of  workers  out  of  employment.  The 
machine  was  invented  by  Mergenthaler,  the  inventor  of 
the  linotvpe,  and  is  almost  as  wonderful  in  its  make-up. 

"About  fifty  of  the  machines  are  in  operation  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  making  grape  baskets,  berry  baskets 
and  fruit  baskets  of  a  strength  and  quality  never  ap- 
proached by  hand  work,  and  with  speed  and  ease  which 
makes  these  machines  wonderful  to  all  who  watch  their 
work.    Fancy  a  single  machine  that  will  turn  out  com- 


MACHINERY.  151 

pleted  berry  baskets  at  the  rate  of  12,000  per  day  of  nine 
hours  work!  This  is  at  the  rate  of  1300  per  hour,  or  over 
TWENTY  BASKETS  A  MINUTE. 

"When  you  take  into  account  the  fact  that  heretofore 
all  baskets  have  been  made  by  hand,  and  that  one  girl 
operator  on  one  of  these  Mergenthaler-Horton  machines 
accomplishes  as  much  as  twelve  hand  operators,  the  real 
efficiency  and  the  money  saving  qualities  of  the  machine 
become  evident." 

Electricity  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  where  it  once  takes 
possession  of  a  field  it  appears  to  be  permanent,  and 
delvers  for  the  dusky  diamonds  will  soon  have  to  face  the 
stern  fact  that  where  they  have  not  been  driven  out  by  the 
cheap  labor  of  Europe  they  have  a  more  invincible  foe  to 
meet,  and  that  in  a  few  years,  where  thousands  are  en- 
gaged in  mining,  hundreds  will  do  an  equal  amount  of 
work  by  the  aid  of  electrical  mining  machinery. 
The  Olyphant  Gazette  says: 

"The  wonderful  strides  of  science,  and  innumerable  de- 
vices of  this  inventive  age,  are  fast  driving  manual  labor 
out  of  many  industries,  and  thousands  of  workingmen 
who  found  remunerative  employment  a  few  vears  ago  arc 
vainly  seeking  for  something  to  do.  Where  hundreds  of 
men  were  engaged  in  a  mill  or  factory,  now  a  score  will  do 
a  greater  amount  of  work,  aided  by  mechanical  con- 
trivance." 

Still  another  writer  says: 

"In  the  tailoring  business  one  man  with  electricity  can 


152  MACHINERY. 

cut  500  garments  a  day.  In  Carnegie's  steel  works,  elec- 
tricity helping,  eight  men  do  the  work  of  300.  One  match- 
making machine,  fed  by  a  boy,  can  cut  10,000,000  sticks  a 
day.  The  newest  weaving  loom  can  be  run  without  at- 
tention all  through  the  dinner  hour,  and  an  hour  and  a 
half  after  the  factory  is  closed,  weaving  cloth  automatic- 
ally. 

"Here  is  presented  the  problem  of  the  age  that  is  await- 
ing solution:  how  to  so  connect  our  powers  and  our  neces- 
sities that  there  shall  be  no  waste  of  energy  and  no 
want.  With  this  problem  properly  solved,  it  is  plain  that 
there  need  be  no  tired,  overworked  people;  no  poverty, 
no  hunger,  no  deprivation,  no  tramps.  Solutions  in- 
numerable have  been  proposed,  but  so  far  none  seems 
applicable  without  doing  somebody  an  injustice,  real  or 
apparent.  The  man  who  shall  lead  the  people  to  the  light 
in  this  matter  will  be  the  greatest  hero  and  the  greatest 
benefactor  of  his  race  the  world  has  ever  known." 

Another  writer  notes  the  following  as  facts : 

"One  man  and  two  boys  can  do  the  work  which  it  re- 
quired 1,100  spinners  to  do  but  a  few  years  ago. 

"One  man  now  does  the  work  of  fifty  weavers  at  the 
time  of  his  grandfather. 

"Cotton  printing  machines  have  displaced  fifteen  hun- 
dred laborers  to  each  one  retained. 

"One  machine  with  one  man  as  attendant  manufactures 
as  many  horse  shoes  in  one  day  as  it  would  take  500  men 
to  make  in  the  same  time. 


MACHINERY.  153 

"Out  of  500  men  formerly  employed  at  the  log  sawing 
business,  499  have  lost  their  jobs  through  the  introduction 
of  modern  machinery. 

"One  nail  machine  takes  the  place  of  1,100  men. 

"In  the  manufacture  of  paper  95  per  cent  of  hand  labor 
has  been  replaced. 

"One  man  can  now  make  as  much  pottery  ware  in  the 
same  time  as  1,000  could  do  before  machinery  was  ap- 
plied. 

"By  the  use  of  machinery  in  loading  and  unloading 
ships  one  man  can  perform  the  labor  of  2,000  men. 

"An  expert  watchmaker  can  turn  out  from  250  to  300 
watches  each  year  with  the  aid  of  machinery,  85  per  cent 
of  former  hand  labor  being  thus  displaced." 

The  Pittsburg  Po6t,  noting  the  progress  of  crude  iron 
manufacture  during  the  past  twenty  years  by  improved 
furnaces,  says: 

"Twenty  years  ago,  in  1876,  the  production  of  pig  iron 
in  the  United  States  was  2,093,236  tons.  In  the  year  1895 
the  production  of  pig  iron  in  the  County  of  Allegheny  was 
2,054,585  tons.  In  1885  the  total  production  of  the  coun- 
try was  4,144,000  tons  of  pig  iron,  while  in  1895  we  led 
the  world  with  9,446,000  tons." 

Canadians  notice  the  same  conditions  and  the  same  ef- 
fects.   The  Montreal  Times  says: 

"With  the  best  machinery  of  the  present  day  one  man 
can  produce  cotton  cloth  for  250  people.  One  man  can 
produce  woolens  for  300  people.     One  man  can  produce 


154  MACHIXKKY. 

boots  and  shoes  for  1,000  people.  One  man  can  produce 
bread  for  200  people.  Yet  thousands  cannot  gel  cottons, 
woolens,  boots  or  shoes  or  bread.  There  must  be  -ome 
reason  for  this  state  of  affairs.  There  must  be  some  way 
to  remedy  this  disgraceful  state  of  anarchy  that  we  are  in. 
Then,  what  is  the  remedy  ?" 

The  Topeka  State  Journal  >a  \  - : 

"Prof.  Hertzka,  an  Austrian  economist  and  statesman, 
has  discovered  that  to  run  the  various  departments  of  in- 
dustry to  supply  the  22,000,000  Austrian-  with  all  the 
necessaries  of  life,  by  modern  methods  and  machinery, 
would  take  the  labor  of  only  615,000  men,  working  the 
customary  number  of  hours.  To  supply  all  with  luxuries 
would  take  but  315,000  more  workers.  He  further  calcu- 
lates that  the  present  working  population  of  Austria,  in- 
cluding all  females,  and  all  males  between  the  ages  of  16 
and  50,  is  5,000,000  in  round  numbers.  His  calculations 
further  led  him  to  assert  that  this  number  of  workers, 
all  employed  and  provided  with  modern  machinery  and 
methods,  could  supply  all  the  population  with  necessaries 
and  luxuries  by  working  thirty-seven  days  a  year,  with  the 
present  hours.  If  they  chose  to  work  300  days  a  year, 
they  would  only  have  to  do  so  during  one  hour  and  twenty 
minutes  per  day. 

"Prof.  Hertzka's  figures  regarding  Austria,  if  correct, 
are  applicable  with  little  variation  to  every  other  country, 
not  excepting  the  United  States  There  is  a  steam  har- 
vester at  work  in  California  that  reaps  and  binds  ninety 


MACHINERY.  155 

acres  a  day,  with  the  attention  of  three  men.  With 
gang-plows  attached,  the  steam  apparatus  of  this  machine 
can  plow  eighty-eight  acres  a  day.  A  baker  in  Brooklyn 
employs  350  men  and  turns  out  70,000  loaves  a  day,  or  at 
the  rate  of  200  loaves  for  each  man  employed.  In  mak- 
ing shoes  with  the  McKay  machine,  one  man  can  handle 
300  pairs  in  the  same  time  it  would  take  to  handle  five 
pairs  by  hand.  In  the  agricultural  implement  factory 
500  men  now  do  the  work  of  2,500  men. 

"Prior  to  1879  it  took  seventeen  skilled  men  to  turn  out 
500  dozen  brooms  per  week.  Now  nine  men  can  turn  out 
1,200  dozen  in  the  same  time.  One  man  can  make  and 
finish  2,500  2-pound  tin  cans  a  day. 

And  this  is  only  a  brief  review.  A  thousand  instances 
might  be  cited  instead.  Furthermore,  many  inventions 
are  in  an  incomplete  state;  while  common  sense  tells 
us  that  invention  has  just  begun.  One  could  scarcely 
overestimate  the  possibilities  of  the  future. 

Then,  suppose  all  of  this  machinery  is  run  to  its  full 
capacity.  The  machine,  skillful,  tireless  and  efficient,  in 
competition  with  men  will  outstrip  them,  take  their  places 
and  throw  countless  thousands  out  of  work.  What  will  be 
the  good  of  all  the  wealth  turned  out  by  the  machines? 
The  few  who  secure  work  will  get  less  wages.  Those  out 
of  work  will  have  no  means  of  support.  If  no  one  is  able 
to  buy  this  vast  product,  how  will  it  be  disposed  of  ?  If 
it  cannot  be  disposed  of,  there  will  be  a  general  shut- 


156  MACHINERY. 

down,  followed  by  a  panic  such  as  the  world  has  never 
witnessed. 

Does  any  onethink  the  people  will  be  cool  and  reason- 
able then?  When  they  think  of  the  ease  with  which  all 
the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life  are  produced  J  when 
they  view  the  overflowing  warehouses;  when  they  think 
that  on  account  of  overproduction,  panic,  etc.,  they  are 
out  of  work  and  in  need  of  all  these  things,  will  they  not 
become  frenzied  ?  or  will  they  stand  by  with  their  families 
and  suffer  in  silence  ?  No !  Lashed  by  hunger  they  will 
act.    History  will  repeat  itself. 

I  wish  to  impress  this  fact:  that  this  is  only  another 
element  at  work  to  hasten  the  revolution.  After  thor- 
oughly examining  the  subject  of  machinery  one  is  almost 
led  to  believe  that  it  will  lead  to  a  revolution  in  itself. 
However,  elsewhere  is  told  how  all  these  forces  will  unite ; 
how  they  are  not  separate  factors,  but  intimately  con- 
nected with  each  other;  and  the  reason  why  they  will  act 
together  given. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CHILD  LABOR. 


A  Curse  Without  Palliation— The  Infamy  of  Our  Civiliza- 
tion— Heartrending     Facts     of     Cruelty 
and  Injustice. 


America  claims  to  be  the  most  enlightened  country  in 
the  world.  In  inventions  we  certainly  lead.  In  science, 
literature  and  art  we  are  fast  becoming  the  peer  of 
Europe.  We  weigh  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  determine 
their  chemical  elements.  Microscopists  and  bacterio- 
logists delve  into  nature's  most  hidden  secrets.  No 
avenue  of  research  but  what  is  thoroughly  investigated  by 
this  intelligent  people.  And  finally  we  put  little  children 
to  work  in  the  factories  and  mines.  Little  tots  that  ought 
to  be  at  home  under  a  mother's  care,  or  at  school  receiving 
the  training  that  we  owe  them.  How  barbarous!  How 
inconsistent  with  all  our  learning  and  wisdom!  Why 
does  this  nation  put  these  helpless  little  ones  to  work  in 
the  mines,  factories  and  shops,  when  we  have  so  much 
machinery,  so  many  strong  men,  and  such  an  abundance 
of  wealth,  as  statistics  continually  show  ?  And  why  is  this 
practice  on  the  increase  ?    The  following  report  of  Labor 

Commissioner  O'Donnell  of  Minnesota  is  startling: 

(157) 


158  CHILD  LABOR. 

"CHILD  LABOR  OX  INCREASE. 

"Minnesota  Labor  Commissioner  Submits  Figures  for  the 
Benefit  of  Working  Men. 

"Minneapolis,  Minn.,  Jan.  4. — Labor  Commissioner 
O'Donnell  yesterday  completed  a  report  of  the  inspection 
work  done  in  the  entire  state  during  1901.  In  all  3,647 
establishments  have  been  inspected,  employing  85,393 
persons. 

"Of  these  3,172  are  classified  as  manufacturing,  and  em- 
ploy 71,192  people. 

"Child  labor  has  increased  over  1900  from  .92  per  cent 
to  1.01  per  cent.  A  large  portion  of  the  child  labor,  how- 
ever, was  employed  DURING  THE  VACATION  OF 
THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS.  Child  labor  is  divided  among 
the  classes  of  establishments  as  follows : 

Per  Cent. 

Cigar  manufacturing 5 

Cooperage    2.55 

Knitting  works  12.20 

Printing  trade 1.86 

Tinware  manufacture 12.00 

Department  stores   3.00 

Retail  stores   3.00 

"Sunday  work,  in  addition  to  regular  week  work  as  far 
as  the  present  inspection  reached,  included  5,374  persons, 
or  6.29  per  cent  of  the  weekly  wage  earners." 

"These  figures  tell  the  story  of  capitalist  exploitation  in 


CHILD  LABOR.  159 

more  forceful  language  than  a  mere  theoretical  argument. 

"They  show  that  already  12  per  cent  of  the  employees 
in  the  knitting  works  and  tinware  manufactories  of  Min- 
nesota are  children  and  that  the  employment  of  children 
is  steadily  on  the  increase. 

"With  the  perfection  of  modern  machinery  skilled  labor 
has  become  almost  unnecessary,  and  the  hand  of  a  child 
can  as  easily  direct  its  motions  as  the  strongest  man. 

"The  capitalist  class,,  whose  profits  are  made  from  the 
surplus  wealth  created  by  labor,  understands  the  increase 
which  will  accrue  to  it  through  any  reduction  in  the  portion 
allotted  to  labor.  Any  measure  which,  if  adopted,  would 
bring  about  this  result,  will  at  once  be  put  into  practice 
by  the  capitalist  class. 

"The  machine  offers  this  opportunity,  and  they  employ 
children  in  their  operation  for  the  reason  that  they  do 
not  require  as  much  wages  as  a  man,  while  their  labor  is 
just  as  effective. 

"It  appears  from  the  report  here  shown  that  the  great- 
est increase  in  this  child  labor  occurred  'during  the  vaca- 
tion months.'  The  children  of  the  working  class  are  not 
even  allowed  an  opportunity  to  enjoy  their  school  vaca- 
tion, but  they  must  give  up  their  time,  which  should  be 
spent  in  pleasure  and  recreation,  in  the  employment  of 
capitalism;  they  must  spend  their  leisure  hours  in  grind- 
ing out  profits  for  those  who  hold  the  power  of  life  and 
death  over  them/' 

The  first  question  asked  is,  "What  effect  will  child  labor 


160  CHILD  LABOR. 

have  on  the  revolution  ?  Will  these  little  ones  rise  up  and 
take  part." 

Child  labor  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  subject, 
but  not  because  these  little  ones  will  ever  rise  up  and  pro- 
test against  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  them.  It  shows 
what  a  terrible  condition  our  present  industrial  system  is 
in;  and  it  will  set  people  thinking  and  studying.  And 
then,  by  the  practice  their  fathers  are  thrown  out  of 
work.  Stop  and  think  of  the  condition  of  things;  when 
the  strong  men  of  the  nation  are  forced  to  idleness  and 
their  children  compelled  to  work.  This  can  not  be  tole- 
rated very  long.  The  perpetuation  of  it  would  be  worse 
than  revolution.  And,  does  it  not  seem  that  something 
must  be  wrong  or  we  never  could  have  reached  such  a 
state  of  affairs. 

These  are  not  my  thoughts  or  opinions,  but  facts  as 
they  exist  all  over  this  fair  land  of  ours.  Aside  from 
what  I  know  I  give  the  observations  of  others ;  people  who 
have  no  concern  except  merely  to  publish  the  truth. 

The  following  is  from  the  St.  Louis  Chronicle : 


CHILD  LABOR.  iG3 

WEARING  THEIR  LIVES  AWAY  FOR  TEN  CENTS 

A  DAY. 


Pitiful  Condition  of  Children    in    the    Cotton  Mills  of 

Georgia. 


CHRONICLE     STAFF     CORRESPONDENT     FINDS 
STARTLING  CONDITIONS. 


Tots  Grow  Up  Stunted  in  Growth  and  in  Ignorance. 
"From  a  Staff  Correspondent. 

"Atlanta,  Ga.,  Feb.  8. — Hundreds  of  children,  scores  of 
whom  are  not  more  than  10  years  old,  and  many  only  8 
and  9,  are  wearing  their  little  lives  away  in  the  cotton 
mills  of  Georgia,  or  growing  up  to  stunted  development, 
in  ignorance  as  dense  as  that  which  pervades  uncivilized 
districts  of  Central  Africa.  In  describing  the  conditions 
governing  child  labor  in  the  cotton  mills,  I  was  particu- 
larly cautioned  not  to  exaggerafp. 

"My  investigation  has  proved  that  exaggeration  is  prac- 
tically impossible,  for  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  con- 
ditions could  be  worse.  Yet  I  am  told  that  conditions 
have  improved  in  recent  years.  If  that  be  true,  what  a 
task  it  must  have  been  for  any  clergyman  to  impress  the 
little  ones  with  the  punishment  of  a  life  hereafter,  unless 
they  were  threatened  with  an  eternity  in  the  mill. 

"Children  ranging  in  age  from  less  than  10  years  up- 
ward are  working  12%  hours  a  day  for  as  low  as  10  cents 


164  CHILD  LABOB. 

a  day.  They  are  often  brought  up  in  the  mill,  lying  in 
improvised  cribs  behind  their  toiling  mothers.  Frequent- 
ly they  narrowly  escape  being  born  there. 

"Many  of  the  little  ones  become  accustomed  to  the 
deafening  noise  of  the  machinery  before  they  become  fa- 
miliar with  their  mothers'  faces,  and  long  before  they  can 
lisp  the  name  of  'mamma.' 

"Amid  such  surroundings  they  grow  up  to  take  their 
places  in  the  mill  as  soon  as  they  are  able  to  do  the  work. 

"Often  whole  families  work  together  in  the  mill,  the 
children  in  one  department  and  the  parents  in  another, 
but  between  them  they  can  not  eke  out  more  than  a 
scanty  living,  so  low  are  the  wages  paid  the  hands. 

"The  work  of  (the  little  children  is  largely  confined  to 
the  spinning  room,  where  unremitting  attention  is  re- 
quired instead  of  muscle  or  riper  intelligence.  In  the 
spinning  room  are  the  frames,  where  the  coarser  material 
is  spun  into  fine  thread,  ready  for  weaving.  The  coarse 
thread  unwinds  from  one  spool,  passes  through  a  corru- 
gated roller  that  thins  it  out  and  winds  up  again  on 
another  spool.  The  frames  are  double,  facing  both  ways, 
and  there  are  from  75  to  125  spools  on  each  side. 

"The  frames  are  separated  by  a  passageway  about  four 
feet  wide,  and  the  children  are  kept  busy  walking  up  and 
down  this  alley  watching  the  spools  to  see  that  everything 
runs  smoothly.  When  the  threads  break  they  gather  up 
the  ends,  unite  them  by  rubbing  them  between  their 
fingers,  and  start  the  spools  going  again.     The  children 


CHILD  LABOR.  1,;:> 

have  to  be  on  their  feet  almost  constantly,  and  always  on 
the  watch  for  broken  threads.  The  doors  and  windows 
are  always  kept  tightly  closed,  and  as  a  result  the  air  is 
bad  and  filled  with  flying  particles  of  cotton.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  children  employed  at  the  spindles  are  girls, 
and  the  effect  of  the  long  hours  of  work  and  being  con- 
stantly on  their  feet  is  especially  noticeable  on  their 
health.  The  health  of  the  children  is  affected  in  more 
ways  than  one,  and  their  growth  and  development  are 
stunted. 

"The  general  rate  of  pay  is  10  cents  a  day  for  one  side 
of  a  frame.  The  child  is  paid  nothing  for  the  two  or  three 
weeks  that  it  takes  to  learn  to  do  the  work.  When  the 
little  one  is  able  to  watch  one  side  of  a  frame  she  is  put 
on  the  pay  roll,  and  is  entitled  to  draw  coupons  good  at 
the  company  store  against  her  pay.  After  two  or  three 
months  she  may  be  able  to  attend  to  two  sides,  and  then 
she  gets  20  cents  a  day.  By  the  time  she  is  16  or  17  years 
old  she  may  perhaps  be  able  to  take  care  of  four  or  five 
sides,  if  she  makes  good  progress. 

"The  spools  on  the  frames  are  changed  from  empty  to 
full  and  full  to  empty  by  'dorfing  boys/  They  are  given 
certain  sections  to  look  after,  and  have  enough  to  keep 
them  busy.  Like  the  girls  who  watch  the  threads,  their 
eyes  have  to  be  constantly  on  the  spools.  They  are  paid 
from  25  to  50  cents  a  day,  but  generally  the  lower  price. 

"The  looms  in  the  other  part  of  the  mill  are  operated 


166  CHILD  LABOR. 

by  the  older  children,     those     of  15  and  over— and  the 
mothers  and  fathers. 

"The  children,  go  to  work  at  from  5:45  to  6:30  in  the 
morning,  and  work  12  hours  and  a  quarter  or  12  hours  and 
a  half  for  five  days  in  the  week,  with  half  an  hour  for 
lunch.  Saturday  is  a  short  day,  and  the  mills  generally 
close  at  2  or  3  o'clock  on  that  day.  Most  of  the  mills 
run  66  hours  a  week,  but  some  run  67.  Although  Satur- 
day is  a  short  day,  a  child  loses  one-sixth  of  its  week's 
wages  if  it  misses  that  day. 

"The  effect  of  the  long  hours  and  close  confinement  is 
shown  in  the  heavy  percentage  of  sickness  "among  the 
children.  As  a  general  rule  they  do  not  work  more  than 
four  days  a  week,  either  on  account  of  sickness  or  because, 
as  sometimes  happens,  they  are  a  few  minutes  late  in 
getting  to  work  and  are  locked  out.  The  child  who  gets 
in  five  days  a  week  is  thought  to  be  doing  exceptionally 
well. 

"Another  result  of  the  long  hours  of  work  is  that  the 
children  can  not  go  to  school,  and  they  are  growing  up  in 
appalling  ignorance.  In  many  cases  small  schools  are 
maintained  by  the  mills  for  a  few  months  in  the  year,  but 
the  attendance  is  very  light,  because  by  the  time  the  chil- 
dren are  old  enough  to  learn  they  are  put  to  work  in  the 
mill.  Night  schools  have  been  tried,  but  always  failed  to 
accomplish  anything,  because  after  working  all  day  the 
children  are  too  tired  to  attend  school  at  night. 

"The  mill  owners  admit  that  not  10  per  cent  of  the  chil- 


CHILD  LABOR,  167 

dren  they  employ  can  read  or  write.     I  believe  the  per- 
centage is  even  smaller  than  that. 

"HUGH  CAYANAUGH." 

At  Union  Springs,  Ala.,  there  are  children  working  in 
the  cotton  mills,  at  the  age  of  nine  and  over,  who  do  not 
know  the  name  of  the  state  in  which  they  live. 

I  give  another  article  by  Mother  Jones,  the  great  friend 
of  the  miners,  who  was  ordered  sent  to  jail  by  Judge 
Jackson,  as  described  previously : 

THE  COAL  MINERS  OF  THE  OLD  DOMINION. 

"A  few  Sundays  ago  I  attended  a  church  in  a  place 
called  McDonald,  on  Loop  Creek,  in  West  Virginia.  In 
the  course  of  his  sermon  the  preacher  gave  the  following 
as  a  conversation  that  had  recently  taken  place  between 
him  and  a  miner : 

"  'I  met  a  man  last  week/'  said  the  preacher,  'who  used 
to  be  a  very  good  church  member.  When  I  asked  him 
what  he  was  doing  at  the  present  time  he  said  that  he  was 
organizing  his  fellow  craftsmen  of  the  mines.' 

"Then,  according  to  the  preacher,  the  following  discus- 
sion took  place: 

"'What  is  the  object  of  such  a  union?'  asked  the 
preacher. 

"  'To  better  our  condition,'  replied  the  miner. 

"  'But  the  miners  are  in  a  prosperous  condition  now.' 

"  'There  is  where  we  differ.' 

"  'Do  you  think  you  will  succeed  ?' 

"  'I  am  going  to  try.' 


168  CHILD  LABOR. 

"Commenting  on  this  conversation  to  his  congregation 
the  preacher  said:    'Now  I  question  if  such  a  man  can 
meet  with  any  success.    If  he  were  only  a  college  gradu- 
ate he  might  be  able  to  teach  these  miners  something  and 
in  this  way  give  them  light,  but  as  the  miners  of  this  creek- 
are  in  a  prosperous  condition  at  the  present  time  I  do 
not  see  what  such  a  man  can  do  for  them.'    Yet  this  man 
was  professing  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  the  Carpenter 
of  Nazareth.    Let  us  compare  his  condition  with  that  of 
the  'prosperous'  miners  and  perhaps  we  can  see  why  he 
talked  as  he  did.    At  this  same  service  he  read  his  report 
for  the  previous  six  months.    For  his  share  of  the  wealth 
these  miners  had  produced  during  that  time  he  had  re- 
ceived $847.67,  of  which  $45  had  been  given  for  mis- 
sionary purposes.    Besides  receiving  this  money  he  had 
been  frequently  wined  and  dined  by  the  mine  operators 
and  probably  had  a  free  pass  on  the  railroad.    What  had 
he  done  for  the  miners  during  that  time  ?    He  had  spoken 
to  them  twenty-six  times,  for  which  he  received  $32.41  a 
talk,  and  if  they  were  all  like  the  one  I  heard  he  was  at 
no  expense,  either  in  time,  brains  or  money  to  prepare 
them.    During  all  this  time  the  'prosperous'  miners  were 
working  ten  hours  a  day  beneath  the  ground  amid  poison- 
ous gases  and  crumbling  rocks.    If  they  were  fortunate 
enough  to  be  allowed  to  toil  every  working  day  through- 
out the  year  they  would  have  received  in  return  for  3,080 
hours  of  most  exhausting  toil  less  than  $400. 

"Jesus,  whose  doctrines  this  man  claimed  to  be  preach- 


CHILD  LABOK.  169 

ing,  took  twelve  from  among  the  laborers  of  his  time  (no 
college  gaduates  among  them)  and  with  them  founded  an 
organization  that  revolutionized  the  society  amid  which 
it  rose.  Just  so  in  our  day  the  organization  of  the  workers 
must  be  the  first  step  to  the  overthrow  of  capitalism. 

Sjfi  SfL  Sfi  *fi  J|»  *J>  3|>  ■]»  ?|C 

"Then  my  mind  turned  to  the  thousands  of  'trap  boys/ 
with  no  sunshine  ever  coming  into  their  lives.  These  chil- 
dren of  the  miners  put  in  fourteen  hours  a  day  beneath 
the  ground  for  sixty  cents,  keeping  their  lone  watch  in  the 
tombs  of  the  earth  with  never  a  human  soul  to  speak  to 
them.  The  only  sign  of  life  around  them  is  when  the 
mules  came  down  with  coal.  Then  as  they  open  the  trap 
doors  to  let  the  mules  out  a  gush  of  cold  air  rushes  in, 
chilling  their  little  bodies  to  the  bone.  Standing  in  the 
wet  mud  up  to  their  knees,  there  are  times  when  they  are 
almost  frozen,  and  when  at  last  late  at  night  they  are 
permitted  to  come  out  into  God's  fresh  air  they  are  some- 
times so  exhausted  that  they  have  to  be  carried  to  the  cor- 
poration shack  they  call  a  home. 

"The  parents  of  these  boys  have  known  no  other  life 
than  that  of  endless  toil.  Now  those  who  have  robbed 
and  plundered  the  parents  are  beginning  the  same  story 
with  the  present  generation.  These  boys  are  sometimes 
not  more  than  nine  or  ten  years  of  age.  Yet  in  the  in- 
terests of  distant  bond  and  stockholders  these  babes  must 
be  imprisoned  through  the  long  beautiful  daylight  in  the 
dark  and  dismal  caverns  of  the  earth.    Savage  cannibals 


!70  CHILD  LABOR. 

at  least  put  their  victims  out  of  their  misery  before  be- 
ginning their  terrible  meal,  but  the  cannibals  of  to-day 
feast  their  poodle  dogs  at  the  seashore  upon  the  life  blood 
of  these  helpless  children  of  the  mines.  A  portion  of  this 
blood-stained  plunder  goes  to  the  support  of  educational 
incubators  called  universities,  that  hatch  out  just  such 
ministerial  fowls  as  the  one  referred  to. 

"The  miner  with  whom  this  minister  had  been  talking 
had  been  blacklisted  up  and  down  the  creek  for  daring  to 
ask  for  a  chance  to  let  his  boy  go  to  school  instead  of  into 
the  mines.  This  miner  could  have  told  the  minister  more 
about  the  great  industrial  tragedy  in  the  midst  of  which 
he  was  living  in  five  minutes  than  all  his  college  training 

had  taught  him. 

********* 

"At  the  bidding  of  these  same  stock  and  bondholders, 
often  living  in  a  foreign  land,  the  school  houses  of  Vir- 
ginia are  closed  to  those  who  build  them  and  to  whom 
they  belong  by  every  right.  The  miners  pay  taxes,  build 
the  school  and  support  the  officers,  but  if  they  dare. even 
to  stand  upon  the  school  house  steps  a  snip  of  a  mine  boss 
comes  along  with  pistol  in  hand  and  orders  them  off. 

' free  speech,"  said  one  of  them  to  me  when  I  pro- 

tested,  'we  do  not  need  any  free  speech.  You  get  off  the 
earth.'  Not  only  the  school  rooms,  but  every  church  or 
public  hall  is  locked  against  us.  On  every  school  board 
you  will  find  at  least  one  company  clerk  or  mining  boss, 
and  it  is  the  business  of  this  henchman  of  the  mine  own- 


CHILD  LABOR.  m 

ers  to  see  to  it  that  the  school  buildings  are  not  used  for 
public  meetings  by  the  miners." 

"COLORED  CHILDREN  AT  SCHOOL,  WHITE  ONES 
WORK  IN  MILLS." 

Under  this  heading  a  Cleveland  daily  paper  prints  the 
following  special  correspondence  from  its  reporter,  who  is 
traveling  through  the  South: 

"Union  Springs,  Ala.,  Feb.  12. — There  is  a  large  mill 
here  that  turns  out  cotton  yarn,  and  in  it  I  found  the 
usual  percentage  of  very  small  children.  One  little  fel- 
low, with  a  face  as  serious  as  though  he  had  been  fighting 
life's  battles  for  years,  was  operating  a  band-making  ma- 
chine. He  said  he  was  8  years  old,  and  when  I  pretended 
to  doubt  his  statement  he  protested,  'Oh,  yes;  I  know  how 
old  I  am.' 

"One  little  boy  working  near  him  said  he  was  9  years 
old. 

"'How  long  have  you  been  working  in  the  mill?'  I 
asked. 

"  'Oh,  not  very  long,'  he  replied,  'only  a  little  over  a 
year/ 

'  'Do  you  know  the  name  of  the  state  you  live  in  ?' 

"  'Oh,  yes  sir;  Union  Springs.' 

"The  little  fellow  had  never  heard  of  Alabama. 

"Just  beyond  where  this  boy  worked  I  picked  up  a 
small  todler,  not  over  3  or  4  years  old,  who  evidently 
knew  no  other  play  ground  than  the  mill  floor.  Here  he 
appears  every  morning  before  6  o'clock  with  his  mother 


172  I  HILD  LABOB. 

and  sister,  a  girl  about   12  years  old.    The  mother  and 

daughter,  besides  attending  to  their  duties  in  the  mill, 
keep  a  watchful  eye  on  the  babv  as  he  plays  about  on  the 
floor. 

"For  the  first  time  I  saw  colored  children  at  work  in 
this  mill.  This  was  explained  by  the  statement  that  it  was 
very  hard  to  get  white  worker-,  as  75  per  cent  of  the 
town's  population  was  colored,  in  all  of  the  other  towns 
that  I  have  visited  colored  children  were  barred  by  the 
refusal  of  the  white  children  to  work  with  them. 

"The  result  of  this  condition  is  that  the  colored  chil- 
dren are  going  to  school  and  acquiring  an  education,  while 
the  white  children,  who  work  all  day  in  the  mills,  are 
growing  up  in  ignorance.  It  must  not  be  imagined,  either, 
that  these  children  are  foreigners.  They  are  all  Ameri- 
cans, and  came  from  families  that  have  lived  in  this  coun- 
try for  generations.  They  are  naturally  bright  and  smart, 
and  would  learn  easily  and  quickly  with  any  advantages 
at  all." 

AND  HERE'S  ANOTHER. 

The  correspondent  of  the  Cleveland  Daily  Press  is  vis- 
iting the  Southern  cotton  mills.  He  visited  the  Ex- 
position mills  near  Atlanta,  which  last  year  returned  big, 
fat  dividends  to  the  stockholders.    Here  is  what  he  says: 

"The  Exposition  company  has  800  employes,  of  whom 
275  are  children  from  10  to  14,  while  forty  are  unde  12. 
As  is  the  rule  throughout  the  state,  they  are  paid  ten 


CHILD  LABOR.  173 

cents  a  day  for  one  side  of  a  frame,  which  is  all  that  many 
of  them  can  operate.  It  is  liberal  to  put  the  average  wage 
of  the  children  at  twenty-five  cents  a  day. 

"The  Exposition  mill  is  surrounded  by  a  high  board 
fence,  just  outside  of  which  are  the  cheap  little  two  and 
three-roomed  shacks  that  are  rented  to  the  mill  workers 
for  $1.50  to  $2.50  a  month. 

"I  met  Chas.  D.  Tuller,  secretary-treasurer  of  the  Ex- 
position mills.  He  said  conditions  had  recently  been 
much  improved.  To  mv  suggestion  that  as  the  owners  were 
inclined  to  be  fair  and  sincere  it  would  seem  to  be  good 
nolicy  for  them  to  assist  in  passing  a  law  prohibiting  the 
employment  of  children  under  12,  he  replied: 

"  'Never  will  such  a  law  be  enacted  in  this  state.  We 
have  educated  the  legislators  to  know  there  is  no  neces- 
sity for  it.  We  know  it  would  simply  be  the  entering  wedge. 
The  next  thing,  we  would  have  a  state  official  sticking  his 
nose  into  our  affairs,  and  then  the  walking  delegate.  No, 
sir !    We  will  have  none  of  it.' 

"I  stood  at  the  gate  of  the  Fulton  Bag  &  Cotton  Mill,  in 
Atlanta,  at  5 :30  one  morning  just  as  the  big  bell  was  call- 
ing the  employes  to  work,  and  saw  the  children  come  run- 
ning over  the  frozen  ground  from  cheerless  cabins.  Many 
of  them  were  barefooted  and  all  were  thinly  clad.  The 
mill  employs  1,400  persons,  of  whom  400  of  them  are 
small  children. 

"In  indiscriminate  questioning  I  did  not  find  one  who 


174  CHILD  LABOR. 

could  read  or  write,  and  but  one  girl  who  could  spell  her 

name. 

"In  this  mill  every  applicant  for  employment  signs  a 
contract  that,  in  case  of  injury  in  the  mill,  the  company 
will  not  be  held  responsible.  Parents  or  guardians  sign 
for  minors,  and  it  is  a  rare  thing  to  see  anything  more 
than  'his  mark.' " 

This  from  a  writer  in  the  Review  of  Reforms : 
THE  NECESSITY  FOR  ACTION,  NOT  WORDS,  ON 

CHILD  LABOR. 
"Editor  Review  of  Reforms. 

"The  article  entitled,  'Business  Men  Aroused  Against 
Child  Labor,'  in  your  November  issue,  should  enlist  the 
efforts  not  only  of  every  business  man,  but  of  every 
mother  and  woman,  to  stir  up.  the  legislature  and  congress 
on  this  important  subject. 

"The  fact  that  girls,  mostly  under  eleven  years  of  age, 
are  employed  in  factories  and  stores,  appeals  to  the 
motherhood  of  the  race  to  help  educate  on  this  great  evil 
and  to  'cry  it  down.' 

"That  children  of  both  sexes,  from  ten  to  fourteen  years 
of  age,  are  employed  all  night,  as  well  as  day,  notably  in  a 
thread  factory  at  Huntsville,  Ala.,  is  an  outrage  in  this 
'twentieth  century  civilization,'  of  which  we  so  much 
boast.  How  can  a  nation  remain  free  with  the  ignorance 
and  vice  that  comes  of  such  customs  ? 

Why  do  we  spend  so  much  for  public  schools ;  and  chil- 
dren be  deprived  of  their  opportunities  to  an  education? 


CHILD  LABOR.  175 

I  fear  we  are  drifting  into  an  empire  of  ignorance  and  its 
accompanying  results  not  surpassed  by  any  foreign  coun- 
try of  Europe,  that  the  people  of  this  free  Republic  have 
pointed  to  with  the  finger  of  scorn  and  derision. 

"Mothers,  will  you  not  arouse  yourselves  on  this  great 
question?  The  past  year  is  fast  making  history  for  our 
Eepublic.  The  addition  of  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines 
and  Cuba  is  an  added  menace  to  our  free  institutions. 

* 

The  ignorance  of  the  growing  youth  of  our  blood  to  as- 
sume the  duties  of  citizenship  is  not  a  hopeful  outlook. 
Every  mother  as  well  as  father  should  arouse  to  the  oc- 
casion and  look  these  facts  squarely  in  the  face  before  we 
become  ingulfed  in  irretrievable  danger.  The  social  and 
economic  conditions  of  men  and  women  today,  more  than 
ever  before  since  we  became  an  independent  nation,  are 
crying  to  each  and  everyone  to  come  up  and  help  in  these 
critical  times.  Culture  clubs  that  study  dead  history  of 
Plutarch  and  Greek  Sages  are  futile  in  these  stirring  times 
that  call  for  humanity,  and  a  federated  club  of  women  for 
the  betterment  of  women,  men  and  children. 

"So  I  appeal  to  you,  my  sisters,  to  consider  these  vital 
questions  and  make  your  influence  felt.    And  here  I  am 

reminded  of  the  poet  who  wrote : 

"  'So  many  Gods, 

So  many  creeds, 

So  many  paths  that  wind  and  wind, 

While  all  the  sad  world  needs 

Is  just  the  art  of  being  kind/ 

"HANNAH  TYLER  WILCOX,  M.  D. 
"3840  Finney  Ave.,  St.  Louis,  December  1,  1898." 


176  CHILD  LABOR. 

The  Boston  Transcript  sav.~ : 

"EFFECT  OF  CHILD  LABOR. 

"If  we  are  to  believe  Miss  Jane  Addams,  of  Hull  House, 
current  jests  about  the  perpetual  weariness  of  the  tramp 
frequently  hides  a  deeper  meaning  than  most  suspect.  She 
finds  that  many  persons  slip  into  tramp  life  through 
physical  and  moral  exhaustion,  resulting  from  overwork 
in  childhood.  In  a  recent  address  on  this  subject  before 
the  Chicago  Business  Woman's  Club,  Miss  Addams  said: 
'Child  labor  undertaken  too  early  or  performed  in  excess 
is  responsible  for  a  large  number  of  the  tramps  and  am- 
bitionless  way-farers  of  America.  The  boy  or  girl  who 
works  too  early  is  surfeited  with  labor,  bankrupt  of  am- 
bition long  before  the  time  when  work  should  begin  at  all/ 

"The  belief  that  trampdom  often  is  recruited  from  the 
ranks  of  youthful  toilers  who  have  been  overcome  by  an 
intense  and  terrible  physical  and  moral  fatigue  because 
they  overtaxed  their  strength  is  not  new,  but  so  far  it  has 
hardly  been  made  the  subject  of  careful  investigation.  At 
Hull  House  those  facts  have  been  observed  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  data  are  being  collected.  'We  notice,'  says 
Miss  Addams,  'that  the  child  workers  who  were  bright 
and  eager  and  ambitious  when  commencing  work  some 
six  or  seven  years  ago,  are  different  now.  Nearly  all  of 
them  are  dull  and  lifeless,  lacking  energy  and  without 
ambition.    Many  are  actual  tramps.' " 

The  recital  of  these  facts  might  be  extended  indefi- 
nately;  and.  evidence  piled  upon  evidence.    But  it  would 


CHILD  LABOR.  177 

be  unnecessary.  Every  trade  unionist  knows  it  to  be 
true,  as  does  every  newspaper  reader,  and  every  resident 
of  our  large  cities.  Like  Napoleon  who  robbed  the 
cradles  of  France  to  add  to  his  army,  so  our  much-vaunted 
captains  of  industy  have  robbed  our  cradles  to  satisfy 
their  greed.  They  have  extended  their  army  and  said, 
"Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  us,  and  forbid  them 
not,  for  ours  is  the  kingdom  of  hell." 

This  is  only  another  unhealthy  symptom;  another 
gnawing  canker,  which  plainly  shows  something  is  radi- 
cally wrong,  and  which  will  meet  with  heroic  treatment. 


(12) 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  UNEMPLOYED. 


An  Unsolved  Question;  Even  in  Times  of  Prosperity  Great 

Perils    Only    Temporarily    Postponed— The    Cause 

Deep-Hooted  and  Growing — Danger  Imminent. 


The  problem  of  the  unemployed  is  a  most  serious  one 
to  any  nation;  even  during  the  brief  intervals  of  good 
times.  It  is  serious  today,  will  be  tomorrow,  and  more  so 
the  day  after.  There  always  have  been  short  periods  dur- 
ing which  work  has  been  plentiful,  only  to  be  followed  by 
a  reaction.  At  present  this  country  is  enjoying  an  era  of 
prosperity.  But  it  requires  but  little  study  and  observa- 
tion to  show  that  it  cannot  last.  The  effect  must  always 
be  governed  by  the  causes  and  conditions. 

How  can  there  be  plenty  of  work  when  inventions  and 

labor-saving  machinery  are  being  multiplied  daily;  and 

with  the  sole  object  in  view  of  dispensing  with  the  labor 

of  men?    And  when  children  are  taking  the  place  of  men 

in  mine,  factory  and  shop?    Is  not  this  subject  properly  a 

continuation  of  the  subjects  Machinery  and  Child  Labor? 

With  Child  Labor  on  the  increase,  and  such  improvements 

(178) 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  179 

in  machinery  being  made,  large  numbers  must  necessarily 
be  thrown  out  of  work,  and  especially  when  those  em- 
ployed work  from  eight  to  sixteen  hours  per  day. 

If  sufficiently  aggravated  this  evil  might  produce  a 
revolution  alone. 

Benjamin  Franklin  estimated  that,  if  all  would  work, 
four  hours  labor  a  day,  intelligently  applied,  would  supply 
the  wants  of  all.  If  that  was  true  in  his  time  what  shall 
we  say  of  the  present  era,  with  its  wonderful  increase  in 
productive  power  ?  John  Stuart  Mill  wrote,  almost  with  a 
wail :  "It  is  questionable  if  all  the  mechanical  inventions 
yet  made  have  lightened  the  day's  toil  of  any  human  be- 
ing." This  cannot  continue.  The  forces  are  gathering 
which  will  demand  that  machinery  be  utilized  to  lighten 
the  labor  and  increase  the  comforts  of  life  for  every  pro- 
ducer of  wealth. 

Prof.  Hertzka,  the  Austrian  editor  and  author,  in  his 
book  entitled,  "Laws  of  Social  Evolution,"  says: 

"I  have  investigated  what  labor  and  time  will  be  neces- 
sary, with  our  present  machines,  etc.,  to  create  all  com- 
mon necessaries  of  life  for  our  Austrian  nation  of  22,000,- 
000.  It  takes  10,500,000  hektars  of  agricultural  lands, 
3,000,000  of  pasturages  for  all  agricultural  products.  I 
then  allowed  a  house  to  be  built  for  every  family,  con- 
sisting of  five  rooms.  I  then  found  that  all  industries, 
agriculture,  architecture,  building,  flour,  sugar,  coal,  iron, 
machine  building,  clothing  and  chemical  productions,  need 
015,000  laborers  employed  11  hours  per  day  300  days  a 


180  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

year  to  satisfy  every  imaginable  want  for  22,000, •  inn  in- 
habitants. 

"These  615,000  laborers  are  only  12.3  per  cent  of  the 
population  able  to  work,  excluding  all  women  and  all  per- 
sons under  16  or  over  50  years  of  age.  All  these  latter  i<» 
be  called  not  able. 

"Should  the  5,000,000  able  men  be  engaged  in  work  in- 
stead of  615,000,  they  need  only  to  work  36.9  days  every 
year  to  produce  everything  needed  for  the  support  of  the 
population  of  Austria.  But  should  the  5,000,000  work  all 
the  year — say  300  days,  which  they  would  likely  have  lo 
do  to  keep  the  supply  fresh  in  every  department — each 
one  would  only  work  1  hour  and  22i/>  minutes  per  day. 

"But  to  engage  to  produce  all  the  luxuries  in  addition, 
it  would  take  in  round  figures  1,000,000  workers,  classed 
and  assorted  as  above,  or  only  20  per  cent,  of  all  those 
able,  excluding  every  woman,  or  every  person  under  16 
or  over  50,  as  before.  The  20  per  cent  of  able,  strong 
male  members  could  produce  everything  imaginable  for 
the  whole  nation  of  22,000,000  in  2  hours  and  12  minutes 
per  day,  working  300  days  a  year." 

These  figures  are  reliable  and  prove  that  if  everybody 
worked  but  two  or  three  hours  per  day,  the  world's  toil 
might  be  accomplished  very  easily. 

From  various  causes — machinery,  trusts,  inventions, 
etc. — entire  trades  and  crafts  are  dispensed  with ;  and  the 
lsrge  numbers  employed  in  them  thrown  out  of  work  and 
forced  to  look  elsewhere  for  employment. 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  181 

This  is  true  of  drummers  and  salesmen.  The  advent  of 
the  trust  has  killed  competition,  and  thus  made  the  drum- 
mer less  and  less  a  necessity.  Eventually  the  trusts  will 
practically  do  without  them;  for  having  control  of  all  the 
business,  and  there  being  no  competition,  they  will  not 
need  to  send  anyone  out  to  solicit  orders;  and  the  drum- 
mer will  go. 

Mr.  Edward  H.  Sanborn,  of  the  United  States  census 
staff,  after  a  careful  inquiry,  placed  the  number  of  drum- 
mers in  the  United  States  in  1880  at  250,000,  and  their 
cost  to  the  country  at  $1,000,000,000  a  year.  Mr.  Dowe 
estimates  the  number  at  present  (1899)  at  350,000.  The 
cost  to  the  country  is  probably  $1,300,000,000  a  year. 

The  trusts  will  want  to  save  as  much  of  this  large 
amount  of  money  as  possible,  and  will  discharge  about 
300,000  of  these,  who  will  help  to  swell  the  vast  army  of 
the  unemployed  a  few  years  hence. 

But  the  labor-saving  machine  is  the  chief  cause  of  many 
being  thrown  out  of  work.    Just  study  these  facts : 

Spinning  machines,  operated  by  one  operator  and  two 
girls,  turn  out  more  yarn  than  11,000  old-time  hand  spin- 
ners could  do.  What  an  amazing  increase  this  really  is! 
Each  worker  turning  out  more  yarn  than  3,000  hand  spin- 
ners, and  yet  getting  deplorably  small  wages. 

In  weaving,  one  man  now  does  as  much  work  as  ninety- 
five  could  do  with  the  old  hand  loom. 

One  man  tending  a  nail  machine  turns  out  as  many  nails 
ai;  1,000  men  formerly  did  by  hand. 


182  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

Formerly  it  required  a  good  workman  to  gin  five  pounds 
of  cotton  a  day.  Now  two  men  with  a  machine  turn  ouc 
4,000  pounds. 

Two  machines  operated  by  two  girls  will  now  turn  out 
240,000  screws  a  day,  while  a  few  years  ago  20,000  screws 
was  the  most  that  twenty  skilled  workmen  could  turn  out 
in  a  day. 

Formerly  it  took  a  quick  worker  to  sew  six  pairs  of  shoes 
in  a  day.  Now  one  man  will  sew  1,000  pairs  a  day  with  a 
machine.    Who  gets  this  extra  wealth  ? 

With  match  machines  300  girls  will  turn  out  as  many 
matches  as  8,000  men  could  formerly  do. 

In  making  wall  paper  one  man  does  the  work  formerly 
requiring  100  men. 

With  a  planing  machine  for  turning  out  wood  work  for 
musical  instruments  one  boy  does  the  work  formerly  re- 
quiring twenty-five  men. 

In  1889  the  Berlin  Bureau  of  Statistics  estimated  the 
power  capable  of  being  exerted  by  the  steam  engines  of  the 
world  as  equivalent  to  200,000,000  horse  power,  represent- 
ing in  men  three  time  the  entire  population  of  the  globe. 
T(  has  very  much  increased  since  them. 

Facts  like  these  might  be  extended  indefinitely.  But 
every  one  knows  that  machinery  has  prodigiously  in- 
creased the  power  of  men  to  produce  wealth. 

In  the  United  States  steam  does  the  work  of  230,000,- 
000  men,  representing  almost  the  entire  present  popula- 
tion of  the  globe,  and  we  are  harnessing  waterfalls  to  elec- 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  183 

trie  motors  at  a  rate  that  seems  likely  to  leave  even  that 
aggregation  out  of  sight. 

Strikes  and  lock-outs  throw  thousands  out  of  work; 
and  they  are  becoming  more  numerous  and  larger  all  the 
time.  Yet,  as  most  strikes  are  of  short  duration,  and  the 
scene  keeps  shifting  constantly  from  one  part  of  the 
country  to  another,  the  fact  is  lost  sight  of  that  a  large 
army  is  constantly  out  of  work  owing  to  strikes. 

The  mightiest  factor  of  all  in  throwing  thousands  out 
of  work  is  the  Panic  and  Crisis.  Without  exception,  all 
will  agree  to  this;  for  the  panic  of  1893  is  still  vivid 
in  the  memory  of  the  people;  and  the  havoc  it  played  will 
never  be  forgotton. 

Some  will  say  they  do  not  believe  there  will  be  another 
such  panic.  I  ask  them  why  ?  I  ask  them  have  they  any 
sure  proof?  I  can  adduce  proof  that  there  will  be 
another  panic,  and  that  it  will  precede  and  largely  cause 
the  revolution  of  1907.  But  I  will  duscuss  that  later  on, 
and  for  the  present  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  the  subject 
of  the  unemployed  and  how  it  is  increased  by  panics. 

But  let  us  refresh  our  memories  in  regard  to  the  sub- 
ject. We  may  have  permitted  many  facts  to  slip  our 
mind.  We  will  need  them  before  long.  The  revolution  if 
1907  will  be  due  largely  to  the  same  causes  that  existed  in 
1893. 

In  the  midst  of  the  last  dread  panic,  The  Star  and 
Kansan  printed  the  following: 

"The  unemployed  in  this  country  to-day  number  two 


184  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

millions.    Those  dependent  upon  them  probably  number 

four  times  as  many  more. 

"Perhaps  you  have  heard  this  before.  I  want  you  to 
think  about  it  until  you  realize  what  it  means.  It  meuu 
that  under  'the  best  government  in  the  world,'  with  'the 
best  banking  system  the  world  ever  saw,'  and  everything 
else  at  the  top  notch,  and  with  unparalleled  productions 
of  food  and  every  other  comfort  and  luxury  of  existence, 
one-seventh  of  our  population  has  been  reduced  to  abso- 
lute beggary,  as  the  only  alternative  to  starvation.  People 
are  going  hungry  in  sight  of  warehouses  and  elevators 
filled  with  grain  that  can't  be  sold  for  enough  to  pay  the 
cost  of  raising.  People  are  shivering  and  almost  naked 
in  the  shadow  of  store  rooms  filled  to  bursting  with  cloth- 
ing of  every  sort.  People  are  cold  and  tireless,  with  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  tons  of  coal  easily  accessible  in  thou- 
sands of  mines.  And  the  shoemakers  who  are  idle  would 
be  glad  to  go  to  work  and  make  shoes  for  the  men  who 
mine  the  coal  in  exchange  for  fuel.  So  would  the  latter 
be  glad  to  toil  in  the  mines  to  get  shoes.  Likewise  the 
half-clad  farmer  in  Kansas,  who  is  unable  to  sell  his 
wheat  to  pay  for  the  harvesting  and  threshing  bills,  would 
be  delighted  to  exchange  it  with  the  men  in  the  eastern 
factories  who  spin  and  weave  the  cloth  he  needs. 

"It  is  not  lack  of  natural  resources  that  troubles  the 
country  to-day.  It  is  not  inability  or  unwillingness  on  the 
part  of  the  two  millions  of  idle  men  to  labor  and  produce 
desirable  and  useful  things.    It  is  simply  that  the  instru- 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  185 

ments  of  production  and  the  means  of  exchange  are  con- 
gested in  the  hands  of  a  few.  How  unwholesome  a  state 
of  affairs  this  is  we  are  beginning  to  realize;  and  we  shall 
understand  it  more  and  more  fully  as  the  congestion  grows 
more  severe.  People  are  idle,  cold  and  starving  because 
they  cannot  exchange  the  products  of  their  labor.  In  view 
of  such  results  as  this,  is  not  our  boasted  nineteenth  cen- 
tury civilization  pretty  near  a  dead  failure?  The  unem- 
ployed in  this  country  formed  in  ranks  four  abreast  and 
six  feet  apart  would  make  a  line  six  hundred  miles  long. 
Those  who  depend  upon  them  for  subsistence  would  in 
the  same  order  reach  2,400  miles.  This  army  thus  formed 
would  extend  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific — from 
Sandy  Hook  to  the  Golden  Gate. 

"If  the  intellect  of  the  race  is  not  capable  of  devising  a 
better  industrial  system  than  this,  we  might  as  well  admit 
that  humanity  is  the  greatest  failure  of  the  universe. 
(Yes,  that  is  just  where  divine  providence  is  leading:  men 
must  learn  their  own  impotence  and  the  true  Master,  just 
as  every  colt  must  be  ^broken'  before  it  is  of  value.)  The 
most  outrageous  and  cruel  thing  in  all  the  ages,  is  the 
present  attempt  to  maintain  an  industrial  army  to  fight 
the  battles  of  our  plutocratic  kings  without  making  any 
provisions  for  its  maintenance  during  the  periods  in  which 
services  are  not  needed." 

The  above  was  written  during  the  period  of  the  most 
serious  depression  incident  to  "tariff  tinkering,"  and  hap- 
pily is  not  the  normal  condition.     However,  there  is  no 


186  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

knowing  when  it  may  be  repeated.  Nevertheless,  the 
Harrisburg  Patriot,  of  August  21,  '96,  gives  the  following 
figures  under  the  caption,  "The  Number  of  the  Unem- 
ployed : 

"There  are  10,000  laborers  out  of  work  in  Boston;  in 
Worcester  7,000  are  unemployed;  in  New  Haven  T,000; 
in  Providence  9,600;  in  New  York  city  100,000.  Utica  is 
a  small  city,  but  the  unemployed  number  16,000;  in  Pater- 
son,  N.  J.,  one-half  of  the  people  are  idle;  in  Philadelphia 
15,000;  in  Baltimore  10,000;  in  Wheeling  3,000;  in  Cin- 
cinnati 6,000;  in  Cleveland  8,000;  in  Columbus  4,000;  in 
Indianapolis  5,000;  in  Terre  Haute  2,500;  in  Chicago 
200,000;  in  Detroit  25,000;  in  Milwaukee  20,000;  in  Min- 
neapolis 6,000;  in  St.  Louis  80,000;  in  St.  Joseph  2,000;  in 
Omaha  2,000;  in  Butte  City,  Mont.,  5,000;  in  San  Fran- 
cisco 15,000." 

The  California  Advocate  said: 

"The  assembling  of  the  unemployed  masses  in  our 
great  cities  in  multitudinous  thousands  is  a  most  grue- 
some spectacle,  and  their  piteous  cry  for  work  or  bread  is 
being  heard  all  over  the  land.  It  is  the  old  unsolved 
problem  of  poverty,  intensified  by  the  unprecedented  de- 
pression of  business.  Involuntary  idleness  is  a  constantly 
growing  evil  coincident  with  civilization.  It  is  the  dark 
shadow  that  steadily  creeps  after  civilization,  increasing 
in  dimensions  and  intensity  as  civilization  advances. 
Things  are  certainly  in  an  abnormal  condition  when  men 
are  willing  to  work,  want  to  work,  and  yet  cannot  find 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  187 

work  to  do,  while  their  very  life  depends  upon  work.  There 
is  no  truth  in  the  old  saw  that  'the  world  owes  every  man 
a  living/  But  it  is  true  that  the  world  owes  every  man 
a  chance  to  earn  his  living.  Many  theories  have  been  ad- 
vanced and  many  efforts  have  been  made  to  secure  in- 
alienable 'right  to  work'  to  every  one  willing  to  work ;  but 
all  such  attempts  have  hitherto  ended  in  gloomy  failure.  ' 
He  will  indeed  be  a  benefactor  to  mankind  who  shall  suc- 
cessfully solve  the  problem  how  to  secure  to  every  willing 
worker  some  work  to  do,  and  thus  rid  mankind  cf  the 
curse  of  involuntary  idleness." 

Another  account  describes  how.  in  Chicago,  a  crowd  of 
over  four  hundred  unemployed  men  marched  through  the 
down-town  streets,  headed  by  one  of  their  number  carry- 
ing a  pasteboard  sign  on  which  was  scrawled  the  grim 
legend,  "We  Want  Work."  The  next  day  they  marched 
with  many  banners  bearing  the  following  inscriptions: 
"Live  and  Let  Live,"  "We  Want  a  Chance  to  Support  Our 
Families,"  "Work  or  Bread,"  etc.  An  army  of  unemployed 
marched  through  San  Francisco  with  banners  on  which 
were  inscribed,  "Thousands  of  Houses  to  Bent,  and  Thou- 
sands of  People  Homeless,"  "Hungry  and  Destitute," 
"Driven  by  the  Lash  of  Hunger  to  Beg."  "Get  Off  Our 
Backs  and  We  Will  Help  Ourselves,"  etc. 

Here  is  another: 

"Newark,  N.  J.,  August  21.— Unemployed  workingmen 
held  a  large  parade  to-day.  At  the  head  of  the  line 
marched  a  man  with  a  large  black  flag,  upon  which  in 


188  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

white  letters  were  the  words :  "Signs  of  the  Times— I  Am 
Starving  Because  He  is  Fat."  Beneath  was  a  picture  of  a 
large,  well-fed  man  with  a  high  hat,  and  beside  him  a 
starving  workman." 

Another  journal,  referring  to  the  English  Coal-miners' 
strike,  said : 

"The  stories  of  actual  distress,  and  even  of  starvation, 
are  multiplying  painfully  throughout  England,  and  the 
cessation  of  industries  and  the  derangement  of  railways 
are  assuming  proportions  of  grave  national  calamity.  .  . 
.  .  As  might  be  expected,  the  real  cause  consists  in  the 
huge  royalties  that  lessees  have  to  pay  for  the  ground  to 
the  landlords  from  whom  they  lease  the  mines.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  millionaires,  whose  coal  royalties 
hang  like  mill-stones  around  the  neck  of  the  mining  in- 
dustries, are  also  prominent  peers,  and  angry  public  con- 
sciousness puts  the  two  things  together  with  a  snap.  .  . 
.  .  Radical  papers  are  compiling  portentous  lists  of 
lords  not  unlike  the  lists  of  trusts  in  America,  showing  in 
their  figures  their  monstrous  levies  on  the  earnings  of  the 
property  of  the  country. 

"The  cry  for  bread  goes  up  from  the  city.  It  is  deeper, 
hoarser,  broader  than  it  has  ever  been.  It  comes  from 
gnawing  stomachs  and  weakened  frames.  It  comes  from 
men  who  tramp  the  streets  searching  for  work.  It  comes 
from  women  sitting  hopeless  in  bare  rooms.  It  comes 
from  children. 

"In  the  city  of  New  York  the  poor  have  reached  straits 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  189 

of  destitution  that  have  never  before  been  known.  Prob- 
ably no  living  person  understands  how  awful  is  the  suffer- 
ing, how  terrible  the  poverty.  No  one  person  can  see  it 
all.    No  one's  imagination  can  grasp  it. 

"Few  persons  who  will  read  this  can  understand  what  it 
means  to  be  without  food.  It  is  one  of  those  thing.;  so 
frightful  that  it  cannot  be  brought  home  to  them/' 

The  official  figures  of  1898,  of  the  State  Board  of  Chari- 
ties, shows  that  one-third  of  the  people  of  New  York  re- 
ceived some  kind  of  assistance  during  that  year.  Later 
figures  are  not  obtainable  because  the  court  of  appeals 
limited  the  jurisdiction  of  the  board.  The  report  was  so 
startling  that  the  court  thought  it  would  prevent  such 
revelations  in  the  future;  knowing,  of  course,  that  the 
public  could  be  humbugged  into  believing  that  conditions 
were  improving.  When,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  number 
of  persons  who  receive  help  is  growing  larger. 

The  editor  of  The  Arena  says  in  his  Civilization  In- 
ferno : 

"The  Dead  Sea  of  want  is  enlarging  its  borders  in  ev- 
ery populous  centre.  The  mutterings  of  angry  discon- 
tent grow  more  ominous  with  each  succeeding  year.  Jus- 
tice denied  the  weak  through  the  power  of  avarice  hai 
brought  us  face  to  face  with  a  formidable  crisis  which 
may  yet  be  averted  if  we  have  the  wisdom  to  be  just  and 
humane;  but  the  problem  cannot  longer  be  sneered  at  as 
inconsequential.  It  is  no  longer  local;  it  affects  and 
threatens  the  entire  body  politic.    A  few  years  ago  one  of 


19o  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

the  most  eminent  divines  in  America  declared  that  there 
was  no  poverty  to  speak  of  in  this  Republic.  To-day  no 
thoughtful  person  denies  that  this  problem  is  of  great 
magnitude.  A  short  time  since  I  employed  a  gentleman 
in  New  York  to  personally  investigate  the  court  records 
of  the  city  that  he  might  ascertain  the  exact  number  of 
warrants  for  evictions  issued  in  twelve  months.  What  was 
the  result?  The  records  showed  the  appalling  fact  that 
during  the  twelve  months  ending  September  1,  1892, 
twenty-nine  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty  war- 
rants for  eviction  were  issued  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

"In  a  paper  in  the  Forum  of  December,  1892,  by  Mr. 
Jacob  Riis,  on  the  special  needs  of  the  poor  in  New  York, 
he  says:  'For  many  years  it  has  been  true  of  New  York 
that  one-tenth  of  all  who  die  in  this  great  wealthy  city 
are  buried  in  the  pottersfield.  Of  the  382,530  interments 
recorded  in  the  past  decade,  37,966  were  in  the  potters- 
field/  and  Mr.  Eiis  proceeds  to  hint  at  the  fact  known  to 
all  students  of  social  conditions  who  personally  investi- 
gate poverty  in  the  great  cities,  that  this  pottersfield 
gauge,  terribly  significant  though  it  be,  is  no  adequate 
measure  by  which  to  estimate  the  poverty  problem  of  a 
great  city." 

The  Coming  Nation  prints  this : 

r'You  will  admit  that  new  machines  are  rapidly  dis- 
placing workmen.  The  claim  that  the  making  and  caring 
for  these  new  machines  employs  the  number  thus  thrown 
out  will  not  stand;  for  if  that  were  true  there  would  be  no 


THE  UNEMPLOYED.  191 

gain  in  the  use  of  machines.  The  fact  stands  out  so  prom- 
inently that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  are  now  idle 
because  machines  are  doing  the  work  they  formerly  did, 
that  any  man  must  recognize  it,  if  he  will  think  but  a 
moment.  These  men  out  of  work  do  not  buy  as  many 
goods  as  when  employed,  and  this  decreases  the  demand 
for  goods,  and  thus  prevents  many  more  workmen  from 
being  employed,  increases  the  number  out  of  work  and 
stops  more  purchasing. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  these  unemployed? 
That  prices  of  goods,  as  a  whole,  are  being  cheapened,  does 
not  give  these  men  employment.  There  is  no  occupation 
open  to  them,  for  all  occupations  are  glutted  with  men, 
for  the  same  reason.  You  can't  kill  them  (unless  they 
strike),  and  there  is  nowhere  for  them  to  go.  In  all 
seriousness  I  ask,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  them? 
Skilled  farmers  are  bankrupting,  so  what  show  would 
these  men  have  at  that,  even  if  they  had  land? 

"These  men  are  multiplying  like  leaves  of  the  forest. 
Their  numbers  are  estimated  by  milllions.  There  is  no 
prospect  of  many  of  them  getting  employment,  or  if  they 
do,  it  is  only  to  take  the  places  of  others  now  employed 
who  would  then  be  added  to  the  out-of-works.  You  think, 
perhaps,  that  it  is  none  of  your  concern  what  becomes  of 
them,  but,  my  dear  sir,  it  is  your  concern,  and  you  will 
realize  it  before  many  seasons.  It  is  a  subject  that  can- 
not be  dismissed  by  turning  on  your  heel  and  refusing  to 
listen.  The  French  people  thought  that,  once  upon  a  time, 


192  THE  UNEMPLOYED. 

but  they  learned  differently,  even  if  the  present  generation 
has  forgotten  the  lesson.  The  present  generation  in  the 
United  States  must  solve  this  question,  and  will  solve  it 
in  some  way.  It  may  be  in  peace  and  love  and  justice,  or 
it  may  be  by  a  man  on  horseback  trampling  down  the 
rights  of  all,  as  you  now  carelessly  see  the  rights  of  some 
trampled. 

"The  French  were  warned,  but  they  could  not  listen  be- 
cause of  the  gaiety  of  royal  rottenness.  Will  you  listen  ? 
or  will  the  present  course  be  permitted  to  run  unchecked 
until  five  or  six  millions  are  clamoring  for  bread  or  the 
oxide  of  iron  ?  The  trouble,  when  it  comes,  will  be  intensi- 
fied in  the  United  States  a  hundred-fold,  because  of  the 
social  conditions  that  have  prevailed  here  for  a  century. 
The  love  of  liberty  has  grown  stalwart,  nursed  on  a  hatred 
of  kings,  tyrants  and  oppressors.  No  army  or  navy  from 
the  masses  can  be  relied  upon  to  shoot  their  own  fathers 
and  brothers  at  the  beck  or  order  of  untitled  or  titled 
kings.  Seeing  what  must  result  from  a  too  prolonged  idle- 
ness of  millions,  whose  conditions  will  soon  cement  a 
bond  of  fellowship,  do  you  not  think  you  have  some  inter- 
est in  the  conditions  they  are  producing  ?  Would  it  not  be 
better  to  find  and  apply  a  remedy,  to  employ  these  men, 
even  in  public  workshops,  than  to  have  the  finale  ? 

"We  know  what  the  capitalists  are  doing:  We  see  them 
preparing  the  munitions  of  war  to  rule  the  masses  by 
force  of  arms.  But  they  are  foolish.  They  are  wise  only 
in  their  own  conceits.    They  are  adopting  the  tactics  of 


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THE  UNEMPLOYED.  195 

kings,  and  will  be  as  chaff  before  the  wind,  by  and  by.  AH 
the  fates  are  against  their  tactics.  Kings,  with  greater 
armies  than  can  be  mustered  to  fight  for  capitalism  here, 
are  trembling  before  the  steady  growth  of  a  higher  civi- 
lization among  the  people,  hurried  on  by  the  distress  of 
this  rapidly  increasing  army  of  out-of-works.  Justice 
injures  none,  though  it  may  shut  off  the  privileges  of 
robbers.  Let  us  as  citizens,  solve  and  settle  the  problem 
lawfully,  not  as  partisans,  but  as  citizens  who  think  more 
of  country  than  of  party,  and  more  of  Justice  than  the 
king's  gold." 

All  of  these  facts  bring  back  to  mind  the  awful  con- 
ditions that  prevailed  in  1893.  They  will  be  duplicated 
with  interest.  Listen!  Every  one  remembers  Coxey's 
Army.  How  it  was  laughed  at  and  treated  as  a  joke.  But 
imagine  another  similar  army!  Imagine  times  vastly 
harder  and  the  size  greatly  increased.  When  Coxey's 
Army  strode  into  Washington  it  was  laughed  and  sneered 
at ;  but  this  army  will  receive  the  moral  support  and  en- 
couragement of  70,000,000  people.  Will  this  time  ever 
come  ?  I  think  so.  I  am  prepared  to  prove  it.  After  you 
have  studied  and  analized  each  element  at  work  you  will 
be  forced  to  admit  the  same. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY. 


The  Growing    Class    Feeling— An    Arrogant  Plutocracy 

Trampling  Upon  Manhood  and  Holding  in  Contempt 

the    People    Who    Produce    Their    Wealth — 

Revelations    of    Heartlessness,    Snobbery 

and  Extravagance  Among  the  400. 


i  could  not  better  introduce  this  subject  than  by  quot- 
ing an  article  from  the  New  York  Journal : 

"Mr.  Reginald  Vanderbilt,  son  of  the  railroad  family, 
played  roulette  one  night  at  Mr.  Canfield's  gambling  house 
in  Forty-fourth  street,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  lost 
$125,000.  HE  ROSE  WITH  A  SMILE  OF  GOOD  NA- 
TURED  INDIFFERENCE. 

"Thus  briefly  the  news  report  tell  one  incident  of  life 
in  a  great  city,  where  the  very  rich  and  the  very  poor 
dwell  together  in  harmony. 


"A  man  with  six  children  and  a  wife  gets  up  at  day- 
break— his  wife  has  been  up  before  him  to  prepare  some 
thin  coffee  and  fat  bacon. 

"He  takes  his  heavy  crowbar  and  starts  out  for  a  distant 

(196) 


After  losing  $125,000.00  Reginald  Vanderbilt  arose  from  the 
gambling  table  with  a  smile  of  indifference. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY.  199 

point  on  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  track,  where  he 
has  been  ordered  to  work.  With  the  heavy  crowbar  and 
other  tools  he  works  all  day  long,  tamping  down  the  stone 
ballast  under  the  ties. 

"He  goes  home  at  dark,  having  earned  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  cents — a  dollar  and  a  quarter. 

"Mr.  Reginald  Vanderbilt,  whose  family  is  made  pros- 
perous by  the  labor  of  tens  of  thousands  of  men,  arises  at 
10  or  11  o'clock,  walks  on  Fifth  Avenue,  lunches  at  Del- 
monico's,  rides  in  the  park,  dines  leisurely,  goes  to  the 
theatre  and  drifts  into  Canfield's. 

"He  nods  to  the  croupier,  who,  with  his  apparatus  all 
ready  to  swindle,  is  most  affable. 

"A  small  ivory  ball,  spun  by  nervous  fingers,  swings 
around  the  hollow  wheel.  It  strikes,  jumps,  rattles,  set- 
tles down,  and  one  play  is  over. 

"For  an  hour  or  two  it  rattles  on.  Then  Mr.  Vanderbilt 
goes  away,  having  spent  the  day  satisfactorily.  HE  HAS 
LOST  AT  GAMBLING  $125,000. 

"He  never  EARNED  a  dollar  in  his  life. 

"The  gambling  amusement  of  one  evening  represents 
the  labor  for  one  day  of  100,000  men. 

"Is  Reginald  Vanderbilt  a  bad,  vicious  boy  ?  Not  at  all. 
He  simply  takes  what  our  stupid  social  organization  gives 
him — the  labor  of  other  men.  He  tries  to  get  what  pleas- 
ure he  can  out  of  life  and  what  excitement  he  can  for  his 
nerves. 

"Not  young  Mr,  Vanderbilt  is  to  blame— nor  can  you 


200  THE  AIM  STOCK  ACY. 

justly  blame  the  swindling  vampire  who  owns  the  gambling 
house.  Both  of  them  are  products  of  actual  conditions. 
Both  are  even  useful.  For  the  little  gambling  stun  which 
leaks  out  is  a  splendid  lesson.  It  impresses  on  men's 
minds  the  horrid  injustice  of  turning  over  the  earnings 
of  a  hundred  thousand  men,  the  railroad  wealth  of  a 
great  state,  to  a  foolish,  dissipated  boy.  It  impresses  even 
on  the  dullest  mind  the  gross  stupidity  of  a  system  which 
compels  the  many  to  work  and  suffer  that  the  few  may  be 
dissipated,  ruining  themselves  while  they  deprive  others." 
Mr.  Reginald  Vanderbilt  is  typical  of  a  class  that  has 
sprung  up  in  this  free  country  of  ours  within  recent  years. 
America,  supposed  to  be  the  home  of  freedom,  the  haven 
our  forefathers  sought,  to  escape  the  old  world  aristocracy, 
has  reared  an  aristocracy  more  powerful  and  rich  thau 
Europe  ever  dreamed  of.  With  money  to  spend  like  water, 
every  luxury  the  world  affords  is  theirs.  Banquets  and 
feasts  such  as  kings  of  old  never  thought  of  are  at  their 
command.  Comforts  and  luxuries  they  have,  such  as 
emperors  and  monarchs  never  thought  possible.  The  very 
stables  of  the  rich  are  such  palaces  of  loveliness  that  mil- 
lions of  Americans  would  gladly  exchange  their  homes  for 
these. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY.  201 

Compare  these  two  news  items: 
TWO  PICTURES  OF  THE  "BEST  GOVERNMENT  ON 

EARTH." 

HANNA'S  HORSES  LIVE  IN  LUXURY. 
In  the  stable  are  seventeen  horses.  Their  stalls  are 
all  oak,  trimmed  with  iron  gratings  and  brass.  On  each 
post  is  a  brass  ball  ten  inches  in  diameter  and  a  straw 
skirt  made  by  hand  in  many  colors.  Back  of  the  stalls  is 
a  long  hand-made  straw  mat,  which  looks  like  a  hedge, 
the  inner  edge  being  fastened  down,  while  the  other  ends 
of  the  straws  are  not  secured  and  stick  up  in  the  air. 

In  a  rack  at  the  end  of  the  stable  are  countless  em- 
broidered towels.  Each  time  a  horse  is  groomed  a  towel 
is  used  to  clean  the  coat  thoroughly.  A  towel  is  used  but 
once. 

In  the  harness  room,  which  is  surrounded  by  plate  glass, 
are  sets  of  harness  for  each  vehicle  and  horse.  In  a  case 
in  this  room  are  hundreds  of  red,  white  and  yellow  rib- 
bons, won  as  prizes  at  horse  shows  and  races. 

The  entire  barn  is  lighted  by  electricity,  even  the  hay 
loft.  The  coachmen's  quarters  are  on  the  second  floor  and 
are  fitted  up  in  fine  style.  In  the  center  of  the  barn,  about 
ten  feet  from  the  ground  floor  is  the  office  or  observatory. 
It  is  handsomely  furnished  and  surrounded  by  glass.  A 
person  sitting  in  this  room  can  view  all  parts  of  the  barn. 
This  is  where  Hanna  entertains  his  friends  when  they  in- 
spect the  barns.— Cleveland  Press,  March  24. 


202  THE  ARISTOCRACY. 

THIED  TIME  TO  THE  BOOR  HOUSE. 

"My  God,  do  all  roads  lead  to  the  poor  house  ?"  asked 
feeble  Matt  Raetzel,  eighty-three,  late  Monday  evening, 
as  for  the  third  time  in  his  luckless  career  he  left  the  city 
dispensary  for  the  home  of  the  poverty  stricken.  He  car- 
ried with  him  four  small  market  baskets  containing  his 
entire  earthly  belongings. 

"I  never  expect  to  get  out  this  time,"  he  said  with  a 
piteous  tremor  in  his  voice,  "and  so  I  have  gathered  up 
everything  to  take  with  me  to  my  last  home/' 

Raetzel  has  been  living  at  305  S.  Third  street  with  his 
wife.  For  days  they  were  without  food  of  any  kind.  They 
were  too  feeble  to  help  themselves  and  too  proud  to  in- 
form the  neighbors  of  their  condition.  Finally  the  wife 
started  out  to  find  relief.  She  never  returned,  and  on 
Monday,  Avhen  the  cold  spell  brought  another  of  poverty's 
woes,  the  old  man  decided  to  seek  a  home  among  the  city 
paupers.  Twice  before  he  went  to  the  poor  house,  but 
got  out  only  to  return. — St.  Louis  Chronicle,  April  2. 

Tfle  newspapers  abound  with  descriptions  of  fashionable 
weddings,  balls  and  banquet  at  which  the  so-called  "upper 
crust"  of  society  appear  in  costly  robes  and  rare  jewels. 
One  lady  at  a  ball  in  Paris,  recently,  it  is  said,  wore 
$1,600,000  worth  of  diamonds.  The  New  York  World  in 
August  L896  gave  a  picture  of  an  American  lady  arrayed 
diamonds  and  other  jewels  valued  at  $1,000,000;  and 
she  does  not  belong  to  the  very  uppermost  social  strata 
either.    The  daily  press  tell  of  the  lavish  expenditure  of 


THE  ARISTOCRACY. 

thousands  of  dollars  in  providing  these  banquets— foi 
choice  wines,  floral  decorations,  etc.  They  tell  of  the 
palaces  erected  for  the  rich,  many  of  them  costing  $50,- 
000,  and  some  as  much  as  $1,500,000.  They  tell  of  "Dog 
Socials"  at  which  brutes  are  fed  on  dainties  at  great  ex- 
pense, tended  by  their  "nurses."  They  tell  of  $10,000 
paid  for  a  dessert  service,  $G,000  for  two  artistic  flower- 
jars,  $50,000  for  two  rose-colored  vases.  They  tell  that  an 
English  duke  paid  $350,000  for  a  horse.  They  tell  how  a 
Boston  woman  buried  her  husband  in  a  coffin  costing  $50,- 
000.  They  tell  that  another  "ladv"  expended  $5,000  in 
burying  a  pet  poodle  dog.  They  tell  that  New  York 
millionaires  pay  as  high  as  $800,000  for  a  single  yacht. 

The  California  Christian  Advocate,  commenting  upon 
one  of  the  fashionable  balls  of  New  York  City,  says: 

"The  lavish  luxury  and  dazzling  extravagance  display 
by  the  wealthy  Greeks  and  Romans  of  'ye  olden  time* 
a  matter  of  history.    Such  reckless  display  is  beginning  to 
make  its  appearance  in  what  is  called  fashionable  society 
in  this  country.    One  of  our  exchanges  tells  of  a  New  York 
lady  who  spent  $125,000  in  a  single  season  in  entertaining. 
The  character  and  value  of  the  entertainments  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  she  taught  society  how     .     .     . 
to  freeze  Roman  punch  in  the  heart  of  crimson  and  yellow 
tulips,  and  how  to  eat  terrapin  with  gold  spoons  out  of 
silver  canoes.    Other  entertainers  decked  their  tables  with 
costly  roses,  while  one  of  'the  four  hundred'  is 
"  ave  spent  $50,000  on  a  single  entertainment.    Such  lavish 


204  THE  ARISTOCRACY. 

expenditure  to  such  poor  purposes  is  sinful  and  shameful, 
no  matter  how  large  a  fortune  one  may  possess." 

Messiah's  Herald  commented  as  follows: 

"One  hundred  and  forty-four  social  autocrats,  headed 
by  an  aristocrat,  held  a  great  ball.  Royalty  never  eclipsed 
it.  It  was  intensely  exclusive.  Wine  flowed  like  water. 
Beauty  lent  her  charms.  Neither  Mark  Antony  nor  Cle- 
opatra ever  rolled  in  such  gorgeousness.  It  was  a  collec- 
tion of  millionaires.  The  wealth  of  the  world  was  drained 
for  pearls  and  diamonds.  Necklaces  of  gems  costing  $200,- 
000  and  downward  emblazoned  scores  of  necks.  The 
dance  went  on  amid  Aladdin  splendors.  Joy  was  uncon- 
fined.  While  it  was  going  on,  says  a  journal,  100,000  starv- 
ing miners  in  Pennsylvania  were  scouring  the  roads  like 
cattle  in  search  of  forage,  some  of  them  living  on  cats, 
and  not  a  few  committing  suicide  to  avoid  seeing  their 
children  starve.  Yet  one  necklace  from  the  Metropolitan 
ball  would  have  rescued  all  these  from  hunger.  It  was  one 
of  the  'great  social  events'  of  a  nation  called  Christian; 
but  what  a  contrast !  And  there  is  no  remedy  for  it.  Thus 
it  will  be  'till  He  come.' " 

J.  R.  Buchanan  in  the  Arena,  speaking  of  the  heartless 
extravagance  of  the  wealthy,  says : 

"Its  criminality  is  not  so  much  in  the  heartless  motive 

as  in  its  wanton  destruction  of  happiness  and  life  to 

achieve  a  selfish  purpose.     That  squandering  wealth  in 

ntation  and  luxury  is  a  crime  becomes  very  apparent 

by  a  close  examination  of  the  act.     There  would  be  no 


THE  ABISTOCRACY.  205 

harm  in  building  a  $700,000  stable  for  his  horses,  like  a 
Syracuse  millionaire,  or  in  placing  a  $50,000  service  on  the 
dinner  table,  like  a  New  York  Astor,  if  money  were  as 
free  as  air  and  water;  but  every  dollar  represents  an 
average  day's  labor.  Hence  the  $700,000  stable  represents 
the  labor  of  1,000  men  for  two  years  and  four  months.  It 
also  represents  700  lives;  for  $1,000  would  meet  the  cost 
of  the  first  ten  years  of  a  child,  and  the  cost  of  the  second 
ten  years  would  be  fully  repaid  by  his  labor.  The  fancy 
stable,  therefore,  represents  the  physical  basis  of  700  lives, 
and  affirms  that  the  owner  values  it  more  highly,  or  is 
willing  that  700  should  die  that  his  vanity  might  be  grati- 
fied." 

The  following  very  interesting  bit  of  information,  quot- 
ed in  the  National  View,  is  from  Ward  McAllister,  lately 
a  great  New  York  society  leader: 

"The  average  annual  living  expenses  of  a  family  of 
average  respectability,  consisting  of  husband  and  wife  and 
three  children,  amounts  to  $146,915,  itemized  as  follows : 
Eent  of  city  house,  $29,000;  of  country  house,  $14,000; 
expenses  of  country  house,  $6,000;  indoor  servants'  wages, 
$8,016;  household  expenses,  inclusive  of  servants'  wages, 
$18,954;  his  wife's  dressing,  $10,000;  his  own  wardrobe, 
$2,000;  children's  clothing  and  pocket  money,  $4,500; 
three  children's  schooling,  $3,600;  entertaining  by  giving 
balls  and  dances,  $7,000;  entertaining  at  dinner,  $6,600; 
opera  box,  $4,500;  theater  and  supper  parties  after 
theater,  $1,200;  papers  and  magazines,  $100;  jeweler's 


206  THE  ARISTOCRACY. 

running  account,  $1,000;  stationery,  |800;  books,  $500; 
wedding  presents  and  holiday  gift*,  $1,400;  pev  in  church, 

$300;  club  dues,  $425;  physician's  bill,  $800;  dentist*!  bill. 
$500;  transportation  of  household  to  country  and  return, 
$250;  traveling  in  Europe,  $9,000;  cosW.f  stables,  $17,- 

000." 

A  San  Francisco  Journal,  Industry,  recently  contained 
the  following  comment  on  the  extravagance  of  two 
wealthy  men  of  this  country : 

"The  Wanamaker  dinner  in  Paris,  and  the  Vanderbilt 
dinner  at  Newport,  costing  together  at  least  $40,000,  per- 
haps a  good  deal  more,  are  among  the  signs  of  the  times. 
Such  things  presage  a  change  in  this  country.  This, 
which  is  only  typical  of  a  hundred  more  cases  of  like 
ostentatious  money  show,  may  well  be  likened  to  a  feast  in 
Rome  before  the  end  came,  and  the  luxury  in  France  that 
a  century  ago  was  the  precursor  of  a  revolution.  The 
money  spent  annually  by  Americans  abroad,  mostly  for 
luxury  and  worse,  is  estimated  at  a  third  as  much  as  our 
National  revenue." 

And,  furthermore,  these  people  are  not  elevated  by  their 
great  wealth.  Many  of  them  are  idlers,  with  no  useful 
occupation  in  life.  Instead  of  spending  their  time  and 
money  in  improving  themselves  and  their  f  ellowmen,  their 
chief  occupation  is  that  of  seeking  amusement.  Self- 
gratification  has  become  their  sole  aim  and  object  in  life; 
their  second  nature.  The  daily  papers  are  always  reciting 
their  escapades. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY.  209 

All  remember  the  remarkable  proceedings  at  Newport, 
when  swell  society  dined  a  monkey.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
recount  the  details  of  this  disgusting  affair.  It  is  still 
fresh  in  the  public  mind.  Suffice  it  to  say  these  ideas 
and  tastes  are  degenerate,  and  take  the  place  of  refined 
and  cultured  ones.  Such  people  are  ladies  and  gentlemen 
in  name  only.    They  lack  even  simple  dignity. 

Though  aristocrats,  they  are  forfeiting  the  respect  of 
honest  people.  They  merit  the  contempt  of  all  good  citi- 
zens. 

How  can  any  one  look  up  to  them  ?  They  set  no  worthy 
examples,  though  possessed  of  every  opportunity  to  do  so. 

The  Philadelphia  Press  some  time  ago  published  the 
following: 

"Danger  Ahead !— There  is  no  doubt  about  it  that  New 
York  is  divided  into  two  great  classes,  the  very  rich  and 
the  very  poor.  The  middling  classes  of  reputable,  indus- 
trious, fair-to-do  people  are  gradually  disappearing,  going 
up  in  the  scale  of  worldly  wealth  or  down  into  poverty  and 
embarrassment.  It  seems  unquestioned  that  between  these 
classes  exists,  and  is  rapidly  growing,  under  intentional 
fostering  of  evil  men,  a  distinct,  pronounced,  malignant 
hatred.  There  are  men  here  who  are  worth  $10,000,000 
and  $20,000,000,  of  whom  you  know  nothing.  I  know  one 
lady,  living  in  a  magnificent  house,  whose  life  is  as  quiet 
as  that  of  a  minister  should  be,  who  has  given  away  not 
less  than  $3,000,000  in  five  years,  whose  benefactions  prior 
to  her  death  will  reach  not  less  than  $7,000,000,  who  has 

H4) 


210  THE  ABISTCN  RACY. 

in  her  home  paintings,  statuary,  diamonds,  precious 
stones,  exquisite  specimens  of  gold  and  Bilver,  with  costly 
works  of  every  imaginable  art,  an  inside  estimate  of  which 
if  $1,500,000,  and  she  is  not  as  rich  as  many  of  her  neigh- 
bors by  several  million  dollars.  There  are  men  here  who 
twenty  years  ago  sold  clothes  on  Chatham  street,  who  to- 
day live  at  an  annual  expense  of  $100,000,  who  wear  jew. 

costing  in  reasonable  stores  ss-.jr,.(»00. 

"Come  with  me  in  a  Madison  avenue  car  any  day,  rain 
or  shine,  between  the  hours  of  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  5  or  6  in  the  afternoon,  and  I  will  find  you  car  aft 
car  closely  packed  with  ladies  in  whose  cars  arc  diamonds 
Avorth  from  $500  to  $5,000  each,  on  whose  ungloved  hand-, 
red  and  fluffy,  sparkle  fortunes.  Walk  with  me  from 
Stewart's  old  store,  at  the  corner  of  Ninth  street  and 
Broadway  to  Thirtieth  street  and  Broadway  any  day.  I  do 
not  mean  Sundays,  holidays,  or  special  occasions,  but  all 
times,  and  I  will  show  you  on  block  after  block  women  in 
sealskin  circulars  down  to  their  heels,  worth  from  $500  to 
$1,000  each,  with  diamond  earrings  and  with  diamond 
finger  rings,  and  other  precious  stones  as  well,  carrying  in 
their  hands  dainty  pocketbooks  stuffed  with  money.  They 
represent  the  new  rich  with  which  Xew  York  is  filling  up. 

"On  that  same  street,  at  that  same  time,  I  can  show  you 
men  to  whom  a  dollar  would  be  a  fortune,  whose  trousers, 
torn  and  disgraceful  in  their  tatters,  are  held  about  their 
pinched  waists  by  ropes  or  twine  or  pins,  whose  stocking- 
less  feet  shuffle  along  the  pavement  in  shoes  so  ragged  that 


THE  AEISTOCKACY.  211 

they  dare  not  lift  them  from  the  pavement,  whose  faces 
are  freckled,  whose  beards  are  long  and  straggling,  as  is 
their  hair,  while  their  reddening  hands  taper  at  the  nail  ■ 
like  claws.  How  long  before  those  claws  will  fasten  on 
the  newly  rich  ?  Make  no  mistake  about  it,  the  feeling  *s 
born,  the  feeling  is  growing,  and  the  feeling,  sooner  or 
later,  will  break  forth. 

"Only  last  night  I  walked  through  Fourteenth  street,  on 
which  there  are  but  few  residences  left,  and  in  front  of 
one,  leading  from  the  door  to  the  curbstone,  was  a  canopy, 
under  which  charmingly  attired  ladies,  accompanied  by 
their  escorts,  went  from  their  carriages  to  the  open  door, 
through  which  floods  of  light  and  sounds  of  music  came. 
I  stood  with  the  crowd,  a  big  crowd,  a  moment,  and  there 
was  born  this  idea  of  an  inevitable  outbreak  unless  some- 
thing is  done,  and  speedily  done,  to  do  away  with  the 
prejudice  which  not  only  exists,  but  is  intentionally  fos- 
tered, against  the  very  rich  by  the  very  poor.  It  would 
make  you  shudder  to  hear  the  way  the  women  spoke. 
Envy,  jealousy,  malignant  ferocity,  every  element  needed, 
was  there.    All  that  is  wanted  is  a  leader." 

The  world  is  contrasting  with  the  horrid  conditions  of 
the  Sweater  System  of  human  slavery,  and  with  the  miser- 
ies of  the  vast  army  of  people  out  of  work,  and  another 
vast  army  of  underpaid  workers,  the  luxury  and  extrava- 
gance of  immense  wealth,  as  did  a  London  journal  some 
time  ago — thus: 

"A  Millionaire's  Modest  Home.— We  learn  from  New 


212  THE  ARISTOC  KA(  V. 

York  thai  Mr.  Cornelius  \  an.u-rbilt,  the  Nei  York  mil- 
lionaire and  railway  king,  lias  just  openod  In,  new  palu 
with  a  grand  ball.    Tin.-  mud.-st  home,  which  ii  to  bh.l; 
about  ten  people  during  six  months  of  tin-  v.-ar,  and  to 
remain  closed  during  the  other  hx,  stands  at  the  eorm-r  of 
Fifty-seventh  street  and  Fifth  avenue,  and  has  cost  its 
owner  £1,000,000.    It  is  of  Spanish  deafen  outside,  built  of 
grey  stone,  with  red  facings,  turret-  and  battlmic-nt-.     It 
is  three  stories  high  with  a  lofty  attic    The  ball  room 
the  largest  private  ball  room  in  New  York,  being  75  (< 
long  by  50  feet  wide,  decorated  in  white  and  gold,  Louil 
XIV.  style.    The  ceiling  coal  a  fortune,  and  is  made  in  the 
form  of  a  double  cone,  covered  with  painted  nymphs  and 
cupids.    Eound  the  cornice  are  delicately  modeled  flower-, 
each  with  an  electric  light  in  its  heart,  while  an  immense 
crystal  chandelier  hangs  from  the  centre.    The  walls  on 
the  night  of  the  opening  ball  were  covered  from  floor  to 
ceiling  with  natural  flowers,  at  a  cost  of  £1,000;  and  the 
entertainment  is  said  to  have  cost  the  host  £5,000.    Ad- 
joining the  mansion  is  the  most  expensive  garden  for  its 
size  in  the  world,  for  although  it  is  only  the  size  of  an 
ordinary  city  lot,  the  sum  of  £70,000  was  paid  for  it,  and 
a  house  which  had  cost  £25,000  to  build  was  torn  down  to 
make  room  for  the  few  flower  beds." 

When  one  contrasts  this  wealth  of  extravagant  luxury 
with  the  thousands  of  homeless  and  poverty  stricken,  he  is 
constrained  to  exclaim,  "What  are  we  coming  to!"  "Where 
will  it  end!" 


THE  ARISTOCRACY.  213 

Do  these  people  ever  stop  to  think  of  the  poor?  Do 
they  ever  pity  the  homeless,  despised  tramp  ?  This  is  how 
they  think  of  and  pity  these  homeless  creatures : 

First.  The  New  York  Herald  says,  "The  best  meai  io 
give  to  a  tramp  is  a  leaden  one." 

Second.  Chicago  Tribune  says,  "The  simplest  plan, 
probably,  when  one  is  not  a  member  of  the  Humane  So- 
ciety, is  to  put  a  little  strychnine  or  arsenic  in  the  meat  or 
other  supplies  furnished  tramps." 

Third.     Scott,  the  railroad  king,  says,  "Give  them  the 
rifle  diet  for  a  few  days,  and  see  how  they  will  like  that 
kind  of  bread." 
I  quote  the  Appeal  to  Reason. 

"Mrs.  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  the  charming  young  wife  of 
the  aged  New  York  Senator,  has  written  for  the  news- 
papers some  advice  to  American  women.  After  announc- 
ing that  she  has  just  brought  over  twelve  trunks  full  of 
brand  new  Paris-made  gowns,  she  tells  American  women 
that  they,  too,  should  patronize  the  dress-makers  of  Paris. 
And  now  all  you  common  clodhoppers  who  work  on  Mr. 
Depew's  railroads  and  furnish  him  with  the  money  to  buy 
Parisian  gowns,  go  and  do  likewise.  Your  wives  would 
be  pleased  to  wear  'em,  I  feel  sure." 
Again  that  paper  has  the  following: 
"  'American  workmen  eat  too  much,  especially  too  much 
meat.  They  dress  too  well.  There  is  too  much  lace  cur- 
tain about  their  houses/ 

"Thus  spoke  Judge  Simon  E.  Baldwin,  who  has  the 


2H  THE  ai;i>T(mi:\(  V. 

honor  to  disgrace  the  professorship  of  constitutional  la 
at  Yale.    This  man  wants  the  whipping  p<  ':  and 

favors  more  summary  trials.    Be  U  as  rabid  as  Funston, 
who  would  rather  see  the  men  in  hi*  country  who  are  op- 
posed to  war  convicted  and  hanged  as  traitors  than  • 
the  death  of  a  single  soldier  whose  busin<  to  kill  his 

fellow  man.  This  eminenl  professor  livea  in  an  atmo 
phere  of  refinement.  He  denies  thai  to  the  workmen  who 
have  made  his  life  of  ease  possible.  He  has  all  the  boo! 
he  needs  for  the  prosecution  of  In-  work.  He  would  den) 
that  privilege  to  the  workmen  who  have  Bupplied  him  with 
books.  He  wears  good  clothes  that  fit  well,  and  are  kept 
clean  seven  days  in  the  week.  He  want-  to  take  from  the 
workmen  the  privilege  of  wearing  good  clothes  at  any 
time,  at  work  or  on  Sunday.  He  has  what  he  chooses  t.> 
provide  for  his  own  table.  He  tells  the  workmen  that 
they  eat  too  much,  and  ought  to  he  satisfied  with  what  he, 
the  great  professor,  advises  them  to  eat. 

"And  those  lace  curtains  that  the  worker's  wife  -a 
pennies  and  denied  herself  the  nec<  of  life  in  order 

to  buy  and  beautify  her  cheap  and  miserable  home ;  that 
little  pleasure  she  has  in  seeing  the  sun  light  fall  through 
those  curtains  in  spots  upon  her  child  as  it  plays  before 
the  window,  that  too  must  be  foresworn  because  the  emi- 
nent professor  of  Yale  has  decided  that  the  lives  of  the 
workers  are  too  happy,  they  want  too  many  of  the  good 
things  of  life.  Perhaps  he  is  afraid  the  workers  will  begin 
to  try  to  live  as  comfortably  as  he  does;  and  maybe  ha 


THE  ARISTOCRACY.  215 

fears  that  they  will  want  their  children  to  go  to  Yale  and 
other  colleges  in  the  country.  Knowing  as  he  does  that 
education  unfits  the  workmen  to  live  in  filth,  perhaps  he 
fears  that  lace  curtains  are  evidence  of  the  fact  that  the 
workers  are  getting  tired  of  producing  the  good  things  of 
life  for  such  as  he  to  revel  in,  and  that  it  is  time  for  him, 
the  great  professor  of  constitutional  law  at  Yale,  to  advise 
these  workmen  to  go  back  to  their  dingy  homes,  live  on 
the  diet  that  he  thinks  best  for  them,  tear  down  the  in- 
expensive decorations  that  their  hard-working  wives  have 
made,  and  then  report  to  him  for  further  orders. 

"But  the  workers  are  not  going  to  dress  like  negro 
slaves  were  compelled  to  dress  in  order  to  please  this  self- 
appointed  law-giver  of  the  race;  they  are  not  going  to  be 
satisfied  with  adulterated  food;  and  they  are  going  to 
move  out  of  the  tenement  districts  one  of  these  days  and 
have  comfortable  dwellings  with  all  the  decorations  that 
they  please  to  make.  The  people  will  do  this,  Mr.  Pro- 
fessor; they  will  speak,  and  their  will,  not  yours,  will  be 
the  law." 

The  total  capitalization  of  the  companies  controlled  by 
king  Morgan  is  placed  at  $5,  210,993,386.  As  all  the  gold 
of  the  world,  coined  and  uncoined,  amounts  to  only  $4,- 
841,000,000  it  would  seem  that  the  phrase,  "Morgan  owns 
the  earth"  is  not  only  true  but  that  he  has  got  the  earth  is 
debt  to  him  for  a  few  odd  millions. 

The  following  is  taken  from  The  Coming  Nation: 


2K5  Till-:  ABISTOCRACT. 

"THE  WORLD  AT  Ills  I  !'.! 

"Mr.  Morgan  and  six  other  American  citizens  have  now 
become  more  powerful  than  anv  Congress  or  Parliament 
in  the  world. 

"Fourteen  steamship  line-  and    11   railroad   lini 
theirs. 

"iOn  land  a  mileage  of  108,500  and  on  sea  a  tonnage  «>f 
1,200,000  are  in  their  COntroL 

"Three  hundred  of  the  Largesl  Bteamships  of  the  world 
and  30,000  of  the  best  equipped  passenger  and  freight 
trains  take  orders  from  them. 

"The  railway  mileage  is  greater  than  the  combined 
mileage  of  Great  Britain,  Russia,  Germany,  Spain,  Holland 
and  Belgium.  And  more  than  300  vessels,  which  will  sail 
under  its  orders,  cannot  he  duplicated  from  the  merchant 
marine  of  every  ocean. 

"A  world-wide  transportation  trust  has  long  been  Mr. 
Morgan's  dream.  English  newspapers  are  making  comi- 
cally pitiful  pleas  to  Morgan  to  let  England  come  into  the 
new  trust,  not  as  an  annex  to  America,  but  as  an  equal 
partner. 

"The  fact  that  Mr.  Morgan  is  addressed  in  tones  of  sup- 
plication shows  that  he  is  absolute  master.  Xot  Alexander, 
in  all  his  glory;  not  Ceasar  Augustus,  not  even  Xapoleon, 
with  all  his  mighty  armies,  was  such  a  conquerer  as  J.  P. 
Morgan  with  his  lttle  "yes"  and  "no"  that  makes  or  un- 
makes trusts. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY.  217 

"NO  KING  IS  SO  POWERFUL. 

"No  king  is  one-tenth  so  powerful  as  Morgan.  Edward 
VII,  Emperor  William,  Nicholaus  of  Russia— any  one  of 
these  is  a  pigmy  in  real  power  compared  with  Morgan.  By 
nationality  an  American,  he  is  in  fact  a  citizen  of  all  coun- 
tries. 

"Almost  every  kind  of  a  man  who  labors  works  for  Mor- 
gan through  some  of  his  companies. 

"Rudyard  Kipling,  Lew  Wallace — all  the  geniuses  who 
in  the  fine  frenzy  dash  off  poetry  and  write  stories  for  Har- 
per's, are  working  for  Morgan.  The  patient  scientists  are 
digging  out  minute  facts  for  Morgan  to  scatter  to  the 
world.  The  artist  with  pencil  and  brush  draws  and  paints, 
and  Morgan  pays  him. 

"MORE  THAN  ALL  THE  GOLD. 

"So  absolute  has  he  become  that  while  he  is  personally 
worth  perhaps  not  more  than  a  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars, corporations  over  which  he  has  control  possess  more 
wealth  than  there  is  gold  on  the  earth. 

"There  are  in  the  whole  known  world  about  1,320,000,- 
000  human  beings.  J.  P.  Morgan  controls  enough  to  give 
each  $4. 

"More  than  a  million  men  are  employed  by  the  com- 
panies Mr.  Morgan  controls.  This  means  that  five  million 
men,  women  and  children  are  dependent  on  him  for  a  liv- 
ing— or  rather  that  five  million  persons  contribute  to  his 
comfort." 


218  THE  ARISTO<  RACY. 

Again,  The  Appeal  to  Reason  sa 

"Eight  billions  of  dollars  worth  of  wealth  were  produ 
by  the  brain  and  muscle  workers  of  the   Dnil 
last  year.    The  producers  received  in  wi  ariea 

two  billions  of  dollar.-.    Where  are  the  bix  billion 
"Mr.  Carnegie  says  thai  'Capitalists  do  i 

for  the  flag."    They  will  sell  the  nation  to  an. 
who  will  pay  the  price.    They  will  Bell  its  flag  to  any  bid- 
der.   They  will  sell  it-  legislation  to  any  trusl  or  combina- 
tion.  They  not  only  will,  but  have  been  and  11  doing 

it.    'Patriotism'  is  for  the  common  people,  while  the  mo- 
nopolists loot  the  nation  and  enslave  the  n 

Other  writers  say : 

We  commit  our  sin-,  these  day-,  on  a  1;,  ale.     That 

is  the  difference  between   ancient   and    modern    sla\ 
Where  the  old  world  took  men  one  by  one  and  apportioned 
them  to  individual  owners,  we  take  the  whole  mass  of 
pie  and  make  them  slaves   to  a   class. — Fohn    C.    Ken- 
worthy. 

Bishop  Potter,  in  speaking  of  the  caste  spirit  that 
ruining  the  world,  uses  these  potent  word-:     "A  cast< 
capitalists,  separated  by  practically  inseparable  barriers 
from  a  caste  of  laborers,  means   SOCIAL   ANARCHY 
AND  INDUSTRIAL  WAR." 

Here,  then,  we  have  facts  from  various  sources.     II 
we  have  also  the  opinions  of  some  of  the  best  talent;  the 
best  thinkers  and  writers  in  the  country.    These  view-  are 
not  entertained  by  one  man;  they  are  held  by  countless 


THE  ARISTOCEACY.  219 

thousands.    In  short,  it  tells  of  actual  conditions  prevail- 
ing in  our  country. 

Is  it  any  wonder  the  gap  is  widening  between  the  two 
classes  of  America?  Is  it  any  wonder  they  antagonize 
each  other? 

The  workers  and  the  toilers  are  the  poor  classes.  The 
idlers,  the  riotous  livers,  are  the  aristocrats;  who  own  the 
industries  of  the  country,  thus  owning  the  other  class.  As 
the  hold  of  aristocracy  grows  stronger,  the  discontent  of 
the  poorer  classes  increases.  Nothing  else  could  be  ex- 
pected. Slowly  it  is  dawning  on  the  minds  of  the  masses 
that  a  system  exists  under  which  a  few  own  everything, 
though  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin;  nor  do  they 
think  of  the  morrow,  except  as  to  the  new  pleasures  and 
extravagances  it  may  bring.  They  rob  and  fleece  the 
toilers  of  all  they  produce,  and  in  turn  cordially  despise 
the  slaves  for  being  made  of  such  coarse  clay.  To  work 
i>  disgraceful;  to  earn  an  honest  dollar  beneath  them. 

But  the  people  are  becoming  aroused.  The  masses 
have  begun  to  think.  It  is  not  a  calm,  cool  reasoning,  but 
a  bitter  hatred  and  resentment.  Some  have  noticed  it; 
some  have  not.  But  it  is  there,  and,  like  a  smoldering 
volcano,  remains  suppressed  and  quiet  for  a  time.  But  the 
explosion  will  come.  Any  extraordinary  disturbance  may 
bring  this  about.  The  time  will  come;  not  by  one  agency, 
but  by  a  score  of  them  acting  simultaneously. 

Is  not  the  subject  under  discussion  a  strong  revolution- 
ary force?  Verily  it  will  have  much  to  do  in  bringing 
about  the  final  catastrophe. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


POVERTY. 


Proof  Positive  That  Poverty  is  [m  rearing  in  Spite  oi  the 

Aggregate  Increase  in  Wealth— A  Fern  Are  fitting 

All  While  the  Many  Suffer  for  Necessity — 

Fact-  Almost   Beyond  Belief. 


It  is  remarkable  that  in  this  advanced  age,  with  the 
means  of  production   and    transportation   BO   highly   de- 
veloped, such  a  thing  as  poverty  should  exist.    But  it  d 
and  is  very  widespread  and  common. 

America  has  broad  acres  of  fertile  lands.  It  abounds  in 
rich  valleys,  forests,  hills  and  rivers.  Its  wealth  in  mines 
is  inestimable.  And  when  all  this  is  augmented  by  its  rich 
cities,  by  steam,  electricity  and  many  mechanical  devices, 
we  are  constrained  to  say,  "Surely  God,  Nature  and 
Science  have  made  bountiful  provision  for  man.  None 
need  want  for  aught."    Alas !    That  such  cannot  be  true ! 

Yet  we  cannot  find  fault  with  God  or  Nature.  The 
curse  of  poverty  must  be  charged  to  "man's  inhumanity 
to  man/' 

(220) 


POVERTY.  221 

I  quote  the  following  from  an  exchange.    It  says : 

"A  more  pathetic  incident  in  real  life  is  seldom  told  in 
print  than  the  following,  which  is  vouched  for  by  a  kinder- 
garten teacher  who  resides  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

"A  little  girl  who  attends  a  kindergarten  on  the  east 
side,  the  poorest  district  in  New  York  City,  came  to  the 
school  one  morning  recently,  thinly  clad  and  looking 
pinched  and  cold.  After  being  in  the  warm  kindergarten 
a  while  the  child  looked  up  into  the  teacher's  face  and 
said  earnestly: 

«  'Miss  C ,  do  you  love  God?' 

"  'Why,  yes,'  said  the  teacher. 

"  'Well,  I  don't,'  quickly  responded  the  child  with  great 
earnestness  and  vehemence,  'I  hate  Him.' 

"The  teacher,  thinking  this  a  strange  expression  to 
come  from  a  child  whom  she  had  tried  hard  to  teach  that 
it  was  right  to  love  God,  asked  for  an  explanation. 

"  'Well,'  said  the  child,  'He  makes  the  wind  blow,  and 
I  haven't  any  warm  clothes;  and  He  makes  it  snow,  and 
my  shoes  have  holes  in  them,  and  He  makes  it  cold,  and 
we  haven't  any  fire  at  home,  and  He  makes  us  hungry,  and 
mamma  hadn't  any  bread  for  our  breakfast.' " 

Commenting  it  says:  "If  we  consider  the  perfection  of 
God's  material  bounties  to  the  children  of  earth,  it  is  hard, 
after  reading  this  story,  to  regard  with  patience  the  com- 
placency of  rich  blasphemers  who,  like  the  innocent  little 
girl,  charge  the  miseries  of  poverty  to  God." 

The  following  is  taken  from  The  News-Dispatch: 


222  POVERTY. 

"J.  Pierpont  Morgan's  dog,  Hi-  tfibe,  ralne  $3,000,  wu 
buried  today.   The  burial  was  to  take  place  the  day  befoi 
but  then   Morgan  wai  prevented  from  attending.     The 
corpse  of  the  dog  lay  in  a  i  lined  with  silk.    Tha 

burial  place  is  situated  on  one  of  the  mosl  beautiful 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  Many  monrnen  attended  the 
burial  services,  as  the  deceased  had  been  a  great  favorite 
in  the  Morgan  household.  It  \a  understood  that  upon  the 
grave  will  be  erected  a  Maltese  cross. — News  dispatch  of 
July  17. 

"A  few  days  before  this  burial  of  tin-  dog  the  New  York 
Times  brought  the  following  Vocal  nei 

"'There  was  a  baby  born  yesterday  morning  in  Den- 
ver.   A  baby  whose  father  is  at  the  front  fighting  for  hia 
country.    The  little  creature  who  came  into  the  world  \ 
terday  morning  is  just  twelve  inches  long  and  weigbs  only 
four  pounds. 

"'There  were  no  clothes  waiting  for  it:  not  a  shred. 
And  there  are  none  yet.  Last  night  the  bahy  was  still 
wrapped  in  a  piece  of  flannel.  When  this  tiny  daughter 
of  a  soldier  came  into  the  world  her  mother  lay  upon  a 
feather  tick,  with  not  even  a  sheet  under  her.  The  tick 
was  filthv  and  sour,  but  there  was  no  money  to  buy  an- 
other, and  if  it  were  taken  away  the  woman  would  have 
lain  on  bare  slats.  She  had  neither  sheets  nor  pillow 
cases  on  her  bed  of  pain,  and  over  her  was  an  old  comfort 
that  had  been  taken  from  the  children's-  bed  to  put  over 
her.    The  children,  three  of  them,  lay  upon  a  straw  tick, 


POVERTY.  223 

with  never  a  shred  of  bedding  under  or  over  them.  This 
is  the  condition  that  one  soldier  has  left  behind  him,  and 
this  is  the  picture  that  has  haunted  him  on  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Pacific.  Sad  features  of  the  picture  can  be 
duplicated  in  manv  cases  among  the  families  of  the  boys 
in  blue.  Grim  want  stalks  among  them.  Empty  larders 
greet  their  eyes,  and  the  bitter  alternative  of  starvation 
or  public  charity  stare  them  in  the  face/ 

''How  the  powers  that  benefit  by  this  war  are  using 
their  soldiers  is  seen  in  the  employment  of  cheap  Chinese 
seamen  on  government  transports  and  Chinese  slave  labor 
in  the  manufacture  of  soldiers'  uniforms.  Had  this 
soldier's  wife  applied  for  work  on  uniforms,  she  would 
have  been  bluntly  informed  that  the  contractors  were  at- 
tending to  it ;  and  they  are — for  the  benefit  of  the  con- 
tractors and  those  who  let  the  contracts. — Free  Society." 

The  following  taken  from  The  Appeal  to  Reason  tells 
of  an  actual  occurrence  at  Cleveland,  0.: 

"HE  STARVED  TO  DEATH. 

"A  man  was  picked  up  in  Cleveland,  0.,  a  few  days  ago 
from  a  snow  bank  in  which  he  had  fallen  and  because  of 
starvation  had  been  unable  to  lift  himself  up,  so  he  died. 
It  was  near  the  new  Senaca  street  bridge;  and  when  the 
workmen  gathered  around  they  recognized  in  the  corpse  a 
man  who  had  been  looking  in  vain  for  work.  The  super- 
intendent had  told  him  that  he  might  have  something  in 
a  day  or  so.  An  old  story.  The  unknown  had  no  money; 
and  as  one  of  the  workmen  shared  his  lunch  with  him  the 


224  POVERTY. 

day  before  he  was  found  dead,  he  told  of  a  wife  and  chil- 
dren depending  upon  him;  his  emaciated  face  grew  sad  as 
he  said  he  had  no  money  for  them.  His  clothes  were 
rough  and  threadbare,  his  shoes  being  worn  so  that  his 
feet  touched  the  ground,  or  rather  the  snow.  He  was 
picked  up  tenderly  by  the  workmen  and  placed  in  a  dead 
wagon  and  sent  to  the  morgue. 

"Think  of  it!  In  Senator  Hanna's  home;  right  at  the 
door  of  him  who  promised  a  full  dinner  pail  to  every  one 
if  the  Republicans  won,  a  man  starved  to  death  because 
he  could  not  find  work.  Maybe  the  man  was  shiftless; 
perhaps  he  was,  but  he  was  looking  for  work,  and  we  are 
told  that  prosperity  is  stalking  about  the  country,  just  run- 
ning right  into  everybody's  way,  that  you  have  to  hustle 
to  keep  out  of  the  way  of  work,  and  that  if  you  are  not 
careful  a  job  will  force  itself  onto  you  whether  you  want  it 
or  not." 

The  following  is  from  St.  Louis  Labor : 

"An  excellent  example  of  man's  value  under  capitalism 
was  shown  last  week  on  one  of  the  fashionable  thorough- 
fares just  west  of  Grand  avenue.  The  day  was  one  of  the 
coldest  of  the  cold  week,  and  the  few  persons  of  that  dis- 
trict that  were  compelled  to  be  out  were  hurrying  along 
wrapped  up  in  furs. 

"The  Humane  Society  ambulance  was  drawn  up  in  front 
of  one  of  the  houses  and  a  number  of  well  dressed  men 
;uid  boys  were  putting  a  sick  horse  into  it. 

"A  mattress  was  placed  on  the  floor  of  the  ambulance, 


POVERTY. 

and  great  care  was  taken  to  arrange  the  door  to  thai 
head  might  rest  comfortably. 

"Quite  a  crowd  had  gathered  and  many  expn  of 

sympathy  were  sent  forth  to  the  poor  dumb  creature. 

"As  I  started  on  I  heard  the  notes  of  a  bugle,  and  abo 
half  a  block  away  I  saw  a  poor  one-legged  man,  thinly  clad, 
blowing  a  bugle  for  the  few  pennies  thai  passera-by  might 
give. 

"The  bare  hands  that  held  the  bugle  were  chapped  and 
bleeding. 

"The  ambulance  drove  away  and  the  crowd  that  had 
gathered  passed  on,  laughing  and  talking  by  their  poor 
outcast  brother  with  the  bugle.  Who  would  claim  kin- 
ship ?  not  they. 

"The  vile  capitalist  system  that  turns  out  hundreds  <>f 
the  same  kind  of  unfortnates  every  day,  disabled  in  t 
mills,  factories  and  other  profit-making  hells,  or  when 
fighting  in  their  wars,  could  find  no  more  use  for  him. 

"Why  should  they  bother  about  him,  when  there  are 
thousands  of  able-bodied  men  ready  to  take  his  place  at 
even  lower  wages,  in  the  desperate  fight  for  bread. 

"The  Humane  Society  that  seems  so  affected  by  the 
sight  of  a  dumb  animal  in  pain,  does  not  see  a  brother  in 
the  next  block. 

"To  get  another  horse,  about  fifty  dollars  ha-  to  be 
pended,  while  for  the  asking  they  can  get  a  thousand  hu- 
man lives,  willing  to  be  bound  in  chains,  far  vrorae  than 
that— the  slave  bonds  that  can  be  severed  in  an  instar/ 

(15) 


226  P0\  KIM'Y. 

the  capitalist,  when  the  life  is  of  no  more  profit  to  him, 
but  which  make  the  capitalist  slave  willing,  yes,  anxious  to 
lay  down  his  life  that  his  family  may  gel  bread  enough  to 
keep  them  from  actual  starvation."' 
"MEN  WITH  FAMILIES  WORK  FOB  BOYS'  WAGES. 
"Men  with  families,  says  the  Philadelphia  Evening  Tel- 
egraph, "are  employed  as  bottle  blowers  at  boys'  wages  in 
(he  George  Jonas  Glass  company  at  the  little  hamlet  of 
Minotola,  N.  J.    They  live  in  houses  owned  by  the  com- 
pany, to  whom  they  pay  rent:  and  they  are  compelled  to 
I  rade  at  the  company  store  on  the  cash  book  system  ;  th< 
are  compelled  to  contribute  toward  the  support   of   the 
preacher;  they  are  prohibited   under  pain  of  discharge 
from  meeting  together  to  plan  means  for  throwing  off  the 
shackles  that  bind  them  in  the  bitterest  kind  of  slavery. 
Children  much  below  the  legal  age  of  12  years  are  em- 
ployed; and  unless  a  man  has  two  boys  whom  he  will  place 
at  work  in  the  factory  he  cannot  secure  employment;  and 
if  he  is  fortunate  enough  to  have  two  little  children  whom 
he  is  willing  to  turn  over  to  his  employer  he  will  be  per- 
mitted to  go  to  work  at  apprentice  wage>. 

"Slavery  is  a  mild  word  to  use  in  describing  the  con- 
dition of  the  workers  in  Minotola.  The  entire  town  be- 
longs to  the  company  and  the  employes  are  not  allowed  to 
walk  on  the  company's  grounds  after  being  discharged. 
One  man  had  to  walk  down  the  railroad  track  in  order  to 
get  to  his  home,  where  his  wife  was  so  ill  that  she  could 
not  be  moved  from  the  company  house  in  compliance  with 


POVERTY. 

the  order  to  get  out.  And  all  of  this  is  going-  on  in  a  few 
hours'  ride  from  the  nation's  capital;  where  lackeys  cringe 
and  crawl  before  the  very  men  who  have  caused  all  this 
suffering  of  the  poor." 

The  following  story  is  enough  to  freeze  the  blood  with 
horror : 

CHILD  SHOT  FOR  BEGGING  BREAD. 

The  past  winter  (exact  date  has  slipped  my  mind  and  I 
have  mislaid  my  notebook)  a  white  child  went  to  a  back 
door  in  the  city  of  Birmingham,  Ala.,  and  begged  for  food. 
This  is  unlawful,  as  the  hungry  child  probably  knew. 
When  he  stepped  back  into  the  alley,  a  policeman  shouted 
to  the  little  chap  and  like  any  other  child  who  had  done 
that  which  he  knew  was  punishable,  he  feared  the  officer 
and  ran  from  him.  The  blue-coated  brute  shot  the  boy 
dead.  If  he  had  been  a  negro  child,  there  would  have  been 
the  assertion  that  this  was  another  case  of  race  hatred; 
but  we  do  not  hear  it  cited  as  an  example  of  the  hatred 
of  the  millions  of  capital  for  those  who  are  poor !  There 
is  too  much  of  this  warping  of  events  to  make  them  fit 
preconceived  ideas.  This  eleven-year-old  child  was  killed 
by  a  policeman  "in  discharge  of  his  duty,"  so  the  officer  did 
not  lose  his  position  on  the  force  and  there  was  no  lynch- 
ing. One  can  but  hope  that  the  quick  death  of  the  mur- 
dered boy  was  easier  than  the  slower  one  by  means  of 
starvation. — W.  S.  Abbott,  Oak,  Cal. 

That  crowds  are  always  hungry  in  the  large  cities  is  at- 
tested every  Christmas  by  the  thousands  of  poor  who  flock 


230  POVERTY. 

to  the  big  charity  dinners  given  by  the  newspapers,  lodges, 
churches,  etc.  The  day  after  Christmas  the  Chicago 
papers  published  the  following: 

"Between  11  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  9  o'clock  at 
night  10,000  men  and  boys  and  about  100  women  ate 
platesful  of  turkey  and  potatoes  and  drank  cup  after  cup 
of  steaming  hot  coffee  in  the  old  Waverly  Theater.  This 
is  what  they  ate  and  drank : 

"4,500  pounds  of  meat,  chiefly  turkey. 
"125  bushels  of  potatoes. 
"4,000  loaves  of  bread. 
"1  barrel  of  gravy. 
"2  barrels  of  cranberry  sauce. 
"150  gallons  of  pickles. 
"500  gallons  of  milk. 
"150  pounds  of  good  coffee. 

"In  the  whole  crowd  of  10,000  forlorn,  hungry  people 
the  police  failed  to  discover  a  single  professional  crook. 
After  the  first  700,  who  were  mostly  from  cheap  lodging 
and  barrel  houses,  had  been  fed,  THE  CROWD  WAS 
MADE  UP  CHIEFLY  OF  MECHANICS  AND  LABOR- 
ING MEN,  WHO  WERE  HUNGRY  AND  OUT  OF 
WORK." 

Of  the  ten  thousand,  nine  thousand  and  three  hundred 
were  mechanics  and  laborers  who  were  hungry  and  out  of 
work!  That  is  quite  a  different  story  to  what  the  same 
daily  newspapers,  in  their  servility  to  wealth  and  power, 
have  been  trying  to  have  the  people  believe.    They  didn't 


POVERTY.  231 

intend  to  give  the  lie  to  their  untrue  and  bombastic  claims ; 
they  were  just  caught  off  their  guard  and  may  be  expected 
to  prostitute  their  calling  more  recklessly  than  ever  to 
make  up  for  it. 

St.  Louis,  as  well  as  all  the  large  cities,  has  these  Christ- 
mas dinners,  given  to  the  hungry  thousands  by  well-mean- 
ing and  charitable  people.  It  is  a  blessing  that  they  are 
remembered,  yet  the  question  will  come,  why  is  this  neces- 
sary ?  Why  do  we  have  so  many  poor?  Whose  fault  is  it? 
Commenting  on  this,  St.  Louis  Labor,  a  paper  for  working 
people,  says : 

"THEIR  CHRISTMAS  DINNER  UNEQUALLED   IN 
THE  DAYS  OF  ROME. 

"The  last  Sunday's  edition  of  one  of  our  great  dailies 
contained  a  very  interesting  article  on  the  'Millionaires 
of  St.  Louis.'  It  enumerated  some  eighty  or  more  and 
proudly  declared  that  their  wealth  proved  the  wonderful 
prosperity  of  St.  Louis. 

.  "This,  notwithstanding  10,000  people  had  eaten  a 
'charity'  dinner  on  Christmas  Day.  While  the  article  in 
itself  might  not  attract  so  much  attention,  when  it  is 
placed  in  comparison  with  the  other  item,  it  shows  only 
too  plainly  the  lie  of  its  'prosperity'  talk. 

"The  Post-Dispatch  organized  the  Christmas  dinner, 
and  patted  itself  on  the  back  with  such  headlines  as  *Not 
a  Hungry  Person  in  St.  Louis  on  Christmas  Day.' 

"The  Post-Dispatch  can  play  its  own  horn  and  write  its 
own  eulogies,. but  .there  still-remains  the  fact  that  though 


232  POVERTY. 

they  fed  10,000  persons  on  Christmas  Day,  they  were 
hungry  the  next.  It  is  cheap  charity,  indeed,  which  will 
starve  a  man  364  days  in  order  to  give  him  a  sumptuous 
banquet  on  the  remaining  day  of  the  year.  Those  who 
prate  of  prosperity  had  better  place  themselves  in  the  po- 
sitions of  these  people.  Ten  thousand  people  fed  by  char- 
ity in  a  city  of  600,000  inhabitants.  Rome,  in  its  height, 
did  not  support  a  larger  number.  Romans  thought  that 
they,  too,  were  prosperous,  but  theirs  was  all  on  the  sur- 
face; it  was  confined  to  the  ruling  class.  And  as  soon  as 
opportunity  offered  the  robbed  and  despoiled  population 
of  Rome  turned  on  their  despoilers,  sacked  their  homes, 
ruined  their  villas  and  burned  their  city.  A  similar  fate 
awaits  America,  if  steps  are  not  taken  to  avert  it. 

"We  cannot  continue  to  feed  10,000  starving  people 
while  80  millionaires  revel  in  the  wealth  which  they  have 
robbed  from  those  they  now  regard  as  beggars." 

After  careful  investigation,  The  New  York  Sun  con- 
cludes that  40,000  working  women  in  that  city  are  receiv- 
ing wages  so  low  that  they  are  compelled  to  accept  charity 
or  starve. 

Volumes  might  be  filled  with  facts  similar  to  those 
cited,  and  still  all  would  not  be  told.  The  American  na- 
tion is  learning  these  facts  and  knows  them  to  be  true. 
Any  one  may  verify  the  facts,  and  they  have  been  proven 
over  and  over  again. 

And  yet  there  are  those  whose  perverted  ideas  of  justice 


POVERTY.  333 

and  pity  lead  them  to  such  erratic  expressions  that  we  are 
prone  to  doubt  their  sanity. 

Edmond  Kelly  in  his  book  says :  "There  is  no  longer 
any  reason  for  distinguishing  between  the  criminal  and 
pauper." 

There  you  have  it;  if  a  man  is  poor,  arrest  him  and  put 
him  in  jail.  Proclaim  Captain  Kidd  as  chief  of  saints. 
Erase  from  the  calendar  of  the  great  such  names  as  poor 
Isaiah,  poor  Jesus,  poor  Paul,  poor  Socrates,  poor  Dante, 
and  look  with  respect  upon  the  ages  that  produced  and  yet 
neglected  to  have  them  punished. 

Poor  teachers,  reformers,  authors,  inventors  and  work- 
ers all  to  be  condemned  as  criminals,  and  presumably,  the 
rich  and  unscrupulous,  who  have  extorted  on  the  poor, 
made  life  difficult  for  them,  are  to  be  recognized  as  the 
real  benefactors  of  the  race. 

Some  other  remarkable  views  are  also  held,  as  instance 
the  following: 
"POVERTY  A  BULWARK  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

"Harper's  Weekly  of  March  1st  closes  an  article  on  the 
'Worst  of  Being  Poor/  with  these  words:  'As  poverty  is 
one  of  the  bulwarks  of  the  constitution  we  cannot  guard 
it  too  carefully,  or  too  vigilantly  oppose  any  scheme  tend- 
ing to  undermine  it.  But  we  may  all  fitly  join  in  trying 
to  lessen  the  undue  apprehension  which  it  inspires.'  The 
writer  seems  to  be  afraid  that  prophets  will  arise  who 
will  try  to  abolish  want  itself  unless  the  fear  of  want  is 
abolished  by  those  who  live  in  luxury.    ■He  thinks  that 


234  POVERTY. 

poverty  is  a  good  incentive  to  make  men  work  for  starva- 
tion wages  for  instance ;  and  that  if  poverty  were  abolished 
the  country  would  go  to  pieces.  And  yet  he  thinks  that 
the  country  might  profit  by  considering  the  eccentric 
commonwealths  of  Australasia,  where  a  man  is 
provided  with  a  house  and  farm,  and  secured  against  want 
through  all  his  career.  But  in  this  country  we  must  cling 
to  our  poverty.  What  a  blessed  thought  that  we  have 
such  great  newspapers  to  advise  the  poor  to  be  satisfied 
that  their  children  are  hungry  and  in  rags.  Be  satisfied 
workingmen  when  the  wife  whose  cheeks  used  to  be  so  full 
of  life,  so  beautiful  with  the  dawn  of  health,  if  she  looks 
like  a  skeleton,  if  her  rags  and  dingy  clothes  brings  a  tear 
to  your  eyes.  Be  satisfied  when  your  little  child  throws  its 
ragged  arm  around  your  neck,  and  when  you  feel  its  fever- 
ish heart  beating  through  a  shabby  dress,  draw  it  closer  to 
your  bosom,  and  be  manly  enough  to  say :  'It  is  my  fault, 
little  one,  that  you  are  in  rags.  My  work  and  the  work 
of  my  fellow  laborers  have  filled  the  worfd  with  all  the 
good  things  of  life;  but  we  laboring  people  have  decided 
to  let  some  one  else  have  the  greater  share  of  what  we  pro- 
duce. We  know  that  all  wealth  is  the  product  of  labor, 
and  that  those  who  work  should  have  what  they  produce ; 
but  still  it  is  our  opinion  that  we  should  live  in  poverty 
while  those  who  do  not  work  should  have  the  good  things 
that  our  labor  gives  to  them.' " 

Still  others  say  that  if  the  poor  were  only  saving  there 
would  be  less  misery  and  want.    This  view. is  illogical  and 


POVERTY.  235 

absurd:  for  the  poor,  being  in  the  vast  majority,  are  of 
course  the  great  consumers.  Now,  if  consumption  were 
curtailed,  business  would  drop  off,  and  counltess  thousand? 
would  be  thrown  out  of  work.  This  shows  how  defective 
and  abominable  our  present  industrial  system  is.  The 
poor  are  injured  by  the  virtue  of  economy;  and  aided  in- 
directly by  the  vice  of  extravagance,  which  helps  business; 
which  gives  employment. 

Again,  we  cannot  agree  with  Mr.  Carnegie  when  he 
says  it  is  a  great  advantage  to  be  born  poor.  The  Post- 
Dispatch  discusses  this  as  follows: 

CARNEGIE'S  PHILOSOPHY. 

Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  who  knows  all  about  it,  has  as- 
sured us  that  it  is  a  great  advantage  for  a  man  to  be  born 
poor,  and  a  disgrace  to  die  rich. 

Dr.  Felix  Adler  gives  a  new  and  saner  turn  to  the 
thought  by  observing  that  it  is  a  "misfortune  to  live  poor." 
Among  the  evils  of  poverty  Dr.  Adler  mentions  these: 

1.  "Inefficient  nutrition,"  leaving  the  body  a  prey  to 
disease  and  causing  "dreadful  mortality"  among  the  chil- 
dren of  the  tenements. 

2.  "Care" — anxiety  for  the  future,  the  uncertainty  of 
existence.  "It  is  this  care  that  comes  to  the  poor  man  and 
sits  at  his  table — that  comes  at  night  and  places  hot  coals 
under  his  pillow  and  prevents  him  from  sleeping." 

3.  The  crushing  of  mental  activity  and  growth  in 
young  men  and  women  of  talent  and  even  of  genius,  from 
lack  of  means  of  education  and  development. 


336  POVERTY. 

If  these  are  the  evils  of  poverty,  then  it  is  no  advantage 
to  be  born  poor.  Children  bred  in  an  atmosphere  of  want, 
fear,  squalor  and  death  are  at  a  distinct  disadvantage,  not- 
withstanding Mr.  Carnegie's  confident  assertion  to  the 
contrary. — Post-Dispatch. 

"Mr.  Neefe,  the  Breslau  statistician,  publishes  an  inter- 
esting paper  from  which  the  following  important  facts  are 
taken : 

"  'In  the  year  1896  it  appears  thai  the  death  rate  of  the 
poorer  classes  was  nearly  three  times  greater  than  it  was 
among  the  rich.  The  amount  paid  in  rent  is  given  as  a 
criterion  of  means,  the  figures  being  as  follows: 

"  'Out  of  every  1,000  who  paid  a  rent  up  to  300  marks, 
20.7  died;  out  of  every  1,000  paying  a  rent  of  from  301  to 
750  marks,  only  11.2  died,  and  out  of  every  1,000  paying 
a  rent  ranging  from  750  to  1,500  marks,  only  6.5  died,  the 
average  being  17.6  persons  dying  to  each  1,000  living.' 

"According  to  these  figures  the  mortality  of  the  Breslau 
poor  population  is  at  least  three  times  greater  than  that 
of  the  rich,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  must  be  much  great- 
er, the  deaths  of  servants,  journeymen  and  persons  who 
die  in  the  hospitals  not  being  included,  and  they  in  all 
cases  belong  to  what  are  called  the  poorer  classes.  The 
same  article  shows  that  more  than  one-half  of  the  children 
born  belonging  to  the  poor  population  died  in  babyhood, 
while  the  deaths  of  the  children  of  the  rich  amounted  to 
only  about  one-sixth  of  the  total  number  born."— Solidar- 
ity. 


POVERTY.  .,;;; 

'•WEAKENING  INFLUENCES  OF  POVERTY. 

"In  the   American   Medicine  for  February   15th,  the 
editor,  commenting  on  the  investigations  of  Mr.  Rown- 
tree  as  to  the  effects  of  poverty,  says :    'That  of  7,000  per- 
sons in  New  Y'ork  living  in  primary  poverty,  in  1,130  it 
was  due  to  death  of  the  chief  wage  earner;  in  370  to  his 
illness  or  old  age;  in  167  to  being  out  of  work;  in  205  to 
irregularity  of  work;  in  1,603  to  largeness  of  family;  in 
3,756  to  low  wages.    Dividing  the  workingmen's  districts 
into  three  classes  according  to  income,  Mr.  Rowntree  finds 
that  the  death  rate  of  the  lowest  is  more  than  twice  as 
high  as  that  of  the  highest.     As  to  the  school  children, 
the  average  height  of  boys  of  13  is  less  by  By2  inches  in  the 
poorer  section  than  in  that  of  the    highest     elementary 
schools,  and  the  difference  in  weight  is  more  than  eleven 
pounds,  with  the  difference  in  general  physical  condition 
still  more  marked.    The  truth  of  all  this  is  emphasized  by 
the  fact  that  the  immense  proportion  of  men  offering 
themselves  as  army  recruits  do  not  come  up  even  to  the 
moderate  military  standards  demanded.    The  demonstra- 
tion seems  complete — a  steady  physical  degeneration  due 
to  the  dwarfing  and  weakening  influence  of  poverty.    Now 
all  of  this,  be  it  noted,  is  taking  place  in  the  richest  nation 
of  the  world,  and  in  times  of  unexampled  prosperity/ ' 

Poverty,  then,  is  one  of  the  greatest  curses  with  which 

man  is  afflicted.    It  is  a  curse  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 

A  New  York  preacher  one  Sunday  devoted  his  sermon 

to  "the  wickedest  block  in  the  world/'    It  is  on  Stanton 


238  POVERTY. 

street,  in  that  city,  and  consists  of  seven  houses,  contain- 
ing a  thousand  families.    Do  you  wonder  at  it  ? 

And  yet  all  of  this  poverty  exists  in  the  midst  of  plenty. 

Why  should  the  majorty  of  people  in  the  richest  country 
on  earth  have  to  practice  frugality  ?  And  the  very  people 
too  who  have  produced  so  abundantly  that  hundreds  of 
millions  worth  have  to  he  sent  out  of  the  nation  to  find 
consumers?    What  arrant  insanity. 

It  is  the.  industrial  system  that  is  at  fault.  And  any  in- 
dustrial system  that  grinds  out  millionaires  and  paupers 
will  sooner  or  later  strike  the  rock.  Such  has  and  such 
will  always  be  the  case.  The  day  of  reckoning  approaches; 
coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before. 


CHAPTER  XIIL 


FEMALE  LABOR. 


How  Marriage  is  Discouraged,  and  Why  it  is  Often  a  Fail- 
ure— Womanhood  Dishonored  By  Grovelling 
Industrial  Slavery— The  Truth  About 
Female  Competition. 


The  subject  of  female  labor  is  too  important  to  pass  un- 
noticed. It  is  attracting  nearly  as  much  attention  as  child 
labor.  It  is  almost  as  important.  Today  we  find  women 
who  work  for  a  little  over  half  of  what  men  work  for. 
Often  they  displace  men.  Frequently  we  behold  the 
strange  spectacle  of  the  male  members  of  a  family  out  of 
work  and  the  female  members  toiling  daily,  early  and  late. 
How  unnatural! 

What  opinion  do  I  hold  on  the  subject? 

Simply  and  emphatically,  that  these  poor  women,  with 
the  rest  of  society,  are  victims  of  a  vicious  system.  Victims 
of  circumstances  over  which  they  have  no  control.  Com- 
pelled to  work  or  starve.    They  have  no  choice,  or  probably 

(239) 


240  FEMALE  LABOK. 

they  would  choose  home  and  woman's  sphere  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  factory  and  office,  which  is  man's  sphere. 

And  yet  women  are  generally  blamed,  as  though  thej 
were  the  authors  of  the  present  industrial  system.    They 
are  accused  of  lowering  wages  and  throwing  men  out  of 
work;  but  not,  however,  by  people  who  think  honestly  and 
seriously  on  the  subject.     This  opinion  is  held  only  by 
those  who  do  not  think  at  all.    The  truth  is,  woman  has 
been  torn  from  the  fireside,  the  home,  and  woman's  sphere, 
by  the  most  tyrannical  slave  driver  that  ever  existed.    And 
that  is  Economic  Want.    It  is  economic  want  that  lashes 
them  out  into  the  cold  world  to  battle  for  the  necessities 
of  life.    Grave  and  unnatural  are  some  of  the  results.    Can 
the  poor  girl  or  woman  give  up  work  to  yield  her  position 
to  some  man,  or  to  keep  up  the  price  of  labor  ?    No !  "Self- 
preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature."    Perhaps  there  are 
loved  ones  at  home  depending  on  the  small  wage  for  their 
very  existence.    And  so  it  is  that  woman  is  compelled  to 
go  out  and  labor  whether  she  will  or  no.    And  sometimes 
the  results  are  very  grave  indeed. 

'  Frequently  we  observe  a  young  man  courting  a  girl,  hav- 
ing the' most  honorable  intentions  in  the  world;  yet  he  is 
out  of  work,  and  she  has  employment;  just  the  reverse  of 
what  it  ought  to  be.  It  makes  no  difference  in  the  end 
whether  she  or  some  other  girl  took  his  position.  The 
result  is  just  the  same.  But  to  make  the  problem  clear 
and  forceful,  let  us  assume  the  following  situation : 
The  girl  takes  her  sweetheart's  position,  throwing  him 


FEMALE  LABOE.  g  1 1 

out  of  work;  the  daughter  usurps  the  father's  work,  send- 
ing  him  home  to  idleness,  and  the  sister  takes  the  place  of 
the  brother  in  factory  or  office.  In  the  shuffle  we  lose  sighl 
of  the  gravity  of  it  all,  because  the  displater  and  the  dis- 
placed are  strangers  to  each  other.  It  would  be  clear  in 
an  instant  were  the  unnatural  shuffle  to  take  place  in  one 
family,  as  described.  But  why  not  face  the  question  as  it 
is?  When  examined  it  must  be  admitted  that  something 
is  wrong.  It  is  also  apparent  that  woman,  instead  of  be- 
ing at  fault,  is  the  victim. 

How  unnatural  for  the  sister  to  be  the  bread-winner 
and  the  brother  the  dependent.  Worse  even  is  the  case  of 
the  father  and  daughter.  How  can  she  be  educated  when 
her  time  is  entirely  taken  up  with  toil?  How  can  the 
father  pay  for  if  when  he  is  out  of  work?  Worse  still  "s 
the  case  of  the  lovers.  How  can  the  young  man  marry  the 
girl  who  has  taken  his  position?  Is  not  the  young  wo- 
man herself,  unhappily,  the  bar  to  marriage  ?  Is  she  not 
preventing  the  thing  that  is  dearest  to  the  heart  of  every 
true  woman  ? 

What  can  be  worse  than  a  condition  of  affairs  that  pre- 
vents marriage  ?  It  would  be  hard  to  tell  the  amount  of 
unhappiness  such  conditions  produce.  It  is  here  we  find 
the  answer  to  the  question,  "Why, do  not  more  young  peo- 
ple marry?"  Also  in  discussing  the  question,  "Is  mar- 
riage a  failure  ?"  this  phase  cuts  an  important  figure. 

Female  labor  is  a  bar  to  marriage.  None  can  deny  that 
a  greater  number  would  take  place  if  all  men  had  work 

(16) 


;)}•.  FEMALE  LABOR. 

and  were  sure  they  could  retain  it.  Female  labor  greatly 
increases  this  uncertainty.  Marriage  decreases.  The  girls 
who  should  be  married  are  forced  into  the  field  in  com- 
petition with  men.  Thus,  like  a  two-edged  sword,  it  cutfl 
both  ways;  and  woman  is  made,  unhappily,  an  instrument 
of  her  own  undoing.  What  can  she  do  to  mend  matters? 
Absolutely  nothing.    I  quote  the  following: 

"THEY  ARE  SLAVES. 
"(J.  11.  Bowers  in  Lconoclast.) 

"He  who  dare  not  make  for  himself  a  home  and  take 
to  his  heart  a  woman  who  would  bless  him  in  abundance, 
is  not  as  free  as  God  intended  men  to  be. 

"There  are  thousands  of  young  men  and  women  to-day, 
who,  because  of  the  very  uncertainty  of  their  economic 
footing,  abjure  marriage.  The  men,  most  of  them,  des- 
tined to  father  that  social  sore,  the  army  of  prostitutes, 
with  the  money  that  should  go  to  the  support  of  a  home 
and  the  rearing  of  children,  are  they  free  men  ?  And  the 
women — God  pity  them  all,  and  especially  those  who  out 
of  the  vast  multitude  forced  into  factory  and  shop  fall  bv 
the  wayside,  victims  of  the  men,  who,  if  free,  would  have 
established  them  in  homes,  where  love  and  honor  would 
have  filled  their  lives,  are  they  free? 

"Who  among  us  will  contend  that  a  system  of  labor  that 
forces  women  and  children  to  carry  the  world's  burden,  to 
the  exclusion  of  thousands  of  strong-armed  men  who  stand 
ready  to  take  more  than  their  share  of  the  world's  work 


FEMALE  LABOR.  243 

that  the  loved  ones  may  be  relieved,  is  anything  short  of 
slavery  ?" 

Again,  the  Appeal  to  Reason  says  : 

"Out  of  the  17,000  representative  workingmen  in  In- 
dianapolis only  2,000  are  married.  Industrial  conditions 
are  such  that  workmen  find  it  difficult  to  provide  for  a 
family,  and  they  are  finding  it  more  difficult  to  find  in- 
telligent women  who  are  willing  to  become  the  slave  of  a 
wage-slave.  Girls  can  make  a  living  by  their  own  work, 
and  have  a  measure  of  independence  that  the  working- 
man's  wife  cannot  have.  The  whole  industrial  system  is 
opposed  to  happiness,  and  it  is  constantly  getting  worse. 
But  the  worse  it  gets,  the  better  it  will  be;  for  when  the 
condition  becomes  so  miserable  that  society  cannot  tol- 
erate it,  then  there  will  be  a  change  for  the  better.  The 
darkest  hour  comes  before  dawn.  If  that  be  true,  let  the 
darkness  get  so  thick  that  it  can  be  felt !  If  that  is  neces- 
sary, let  it  come." 

The  following  is  worthy  of  profound  consideration: 

The  question  of  a  Housekeeper,  Clyde,  Neb.,  asking  how 
$10  a  week  can  be  made  to  support,  clothe  and  feed  a  fam- 
ily of  seven — five  little  children  among  the  number— at- 
tracts my  attention.  This  is  but  another  phase  of  what  I 
call  the  riddle  of  the  age,  and  as  it  is  one  which  especially 
concerns  us  women,  we  should  take  deep  interest  in  study- 
ing it.  In  a  magazine  I  saw  the  proposition  succintly 
stated  as  follows:  "The  problem  is  one  which  confronts 
most  young  married  men  and  women  in  the  present  time, 


2u  FEMALE  LABOR 

and  can  be  stated  m  this  way:  A.  and  B.  wish  to  marry. 
As  business  is  sufficient  to  warrant  him  in  the  conclusion 
that  he  can  support  himself  and  wiiV  in  comfort  they  do 
marry.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year  C  U  born.  The  sick- 
ness and  other  expenses  attendant  upon  his  arrival  ha 
made  large  calls  upon  A's  surplus  funds,  still  lu-  can  man- 
age. In  less  than  two  years  more  1)  puts  in  an  appear- 
ance. There  are  more  expenses,  more  sickness,  and  life 
begins  to  look  very  serious  to  A.  This  goes  on  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  period,  but  anyone  can  Bee  that  the  limit  is  soon 
tc  be  reached.  If  the  family  continues  to  increase  with- 
out a  proportionate  enlargement  of  income,  the  time  is  not 
far  distant  when  A  cannot  support  them  all,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  supporting  them  in  comfort.  The  problem,  then, 
which  all  these  people  have  to  meet,  is,  'What  is  to  be  done 
about  it  ?'  Some  of  them  attempt  one  solution,  some  an- 
other, but  the  question  remains  unsettled."  Now  most 
young  people  contemplating  matrimony  see  the  future  in 
a  very  attractive  light,  but  as  Emerson  says,  "No  picture  of 
life  can  have  any  veracity  which  does  not  admit  the  odious 
facts."  I  do  not  wish  to  call  children  "odious  facts,"  but 
they  are  certainly  factors  which  are  seldom  taken  into 
account  by  young  people  when  planning  their  future.  No 
doubt  the  husband  of  our  Clyde  housekeeper  expected  to 
support  his  wife  in  comfort.  Probably  he  took  her  from 
a  home  where  she  was  more  familiar  with  a  piano  and 
book  than  with  wash-board  and  broom;  for  American 
parents  are  indulgent  and  seldom  expect  much  work  from 


FEMALE  LABOR.  245 

their  daughters.  No  doubt  he  was  a  fascinating  lad,  as 
these  salesmen  are  wont  to  be,  and  had  no  difficulty  in 
walking  off  with  the  belle  of  the  town !  Of  course,  this  is 
just  a  fancy  picture,  but  we  all  know  that  such  cases  are 
common.  And  then — five  children  within  seven  years! 
and  dollars  have  so  little  elasticity  even  in  experienced 
hands.  If  the  wife  has  good  health  remaining,  which 
will  be  most  unusual,  the  case  is  not  quite  so  tragic,  but 
if  her  strength  and  spirits  are  gone,  and  she  allows  the 
necessity  for  daily,  hourly  economy  to  render  her  fretful 
and  morbid,  it  seems  to  me  there  is  a  very  good  chance  for 
love  to  fly  out  of  the  window.  And  in  such  a  marriage, 
with  love  gone,  what  would  be  left  ?  She  says  her  husband 
is  expected  to  be  well  dressed,  and,  of  course,  the  wife  and 
little  ones  need  warm,  comfortable  clothing.  Probably 
there  is  house  rent  to  pay,  and  when  the  wise  ones  are 
answering  the  question  let  them  not  forget  that  there  are 
other  expenses  besides  food  and  clothing.  We  cannot  live 
by  bread  alone.  How  much  out  of  this  $10  a  week  should 
go  for  literature,  music,  excursions,  entertainments,  etc  ? 
Then  there  is  the  life  insurance  fund — surely  our  house- 
keeper's husband  ought  to  have  his  life  insured.  If  they 
belong  to  a  lodge,  there  are  the  dues  to  consider;  if  to  a 
church  they  want  to  give  their  mite.  Of  course  they  will 
want  photogranhs  of  their  little  ones  and  at  Christmas 
time  Santa  Claus  is  eagerly  expected.  There!  I  have  not 
answered  the  question,  but  have  amplified  it;  and  with 
Housekeeper  and  others,  shall  look  eagerly  for  the  replies 


246  FEMALE  LABOR. 

of  those  who  have  solved  it.— Catherine  Harbaugh,  I 

cade,  Colo. 

I  fear  that  this  question,  in  its  many  phases,  will  prove 
almost  too  hard  for  The  Eomemaker  to  handle  satisfac- 
torily; but  we  shall  all  be  glad  to  know  of  the  little  econo- 
mies practiced  by  those  who  find  it  necessary  to  make  one 
dollar  do  the  work  of  two.  Personally  I  believe  the  true 
solution  of  the  problem  can  only  ruin,'  through  a  change 
in  the  industrial  system.  Of  one  thing  we  may  be  assured 
— behind  all  the  threatening  social  and  economic  up- 
heavals of  the  day,  shadowed  forth  by  the  deep  unresi  of 
the  multitude,  is  working  that  Almighty  Power  that  makes 
for  good.  Let  us  trust  it,  as  we  have  always  done,  and, 
with  Tennyson, 
"Be  grateful  for  the  sounding     watchword,     Evolution, 

here." — Ed.  American  Woman. 

Also  these  plain  words  on  this  subject : 

The  aversion  of  woman  to  child  bearing  is  one  of  the 
bitter  evils  of  the  day — and  its  effect  on  the  coming  race 
will  be  of  serious  moment.  The  causes  of  this  aversion  are 
many  and  hard  to  overcome  even  by  reason  and  educa- 
tional forces.  It  is  very  true  that  the  economic  conditions 
which  make  the  environment  of  many  women  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  dread  of  bringing  children  into  the  world, 
both  directly  and  indirectly.  Directly,  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  the  mother  must  go  into  the  factory  and  shop  to 
supplement  the  fast  decreasing  wage  of  the  father.  In  the 
great  mill  districts  of  New  England,  mothers  work  at  their 


FEMALE  LABOR.  247 

looms  through  the  whole  period  of  pregnancy,  in  many  in- 
stances up  to  the  very  day  of  confinement.  Not  much 
wonder  that  these  women  dread  the  coming  of  children. 
It  is  not  hard  to  imagine  the  future  of  these  little  ones 
poorly  nourished,  scantily  clad,  deprived  of  a  mother's 
care — all  this  enters  into  the  great  economic  problem  of 
today. — Ella  Reeve  Cohen,  in  Woman's  Physical  Develop- 
ment. 

None  can  denv  that  judicious  marriage  promotes  chas- 
tity. And  anything  that  checks  marriage  increases  the 
social  evil.  Then  women  and  girls  working  promote  the 
social  evil  by  preventing  marriage.  Yet  who  would  blame 
women?  She,  the  unhappy  cause  to  a  certain  extent,  is 
the  worst  sufferer  in  the  end.  The  following  facts  are 
taken  from  a  medical  journal : 

An  eminent  Frenchman  made  an  investigation  of  the 
subject  and  records  the  fact  that  vanity  and  a  desire  for 
fine  raiment  prompted  many  women  to  become  prostitutes. 

Quite  a  number,  also,  took  to  the  vice  in  order  to  escape 
hard  work  in  the  factories  and  the  work-shops. 

As  long  as  this  social  system  exists,  prostitution  will 
exist.  As  long  as  commercialism  is  a  factor  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, prostitution  will  prevail. 

When  young  men  can  marry  on  a  small  income,  and  our 
standards  are  raised  to  a  higher  point,  prostitution  will  de- 
crease. 

Judicious  marriages  promote  chastity,  and  are  encour- 
aged by  every  moralist. 


j>48  FEMALE  LABOR 

There  are  in  New  York  City  some  50,000  such  women ; 
their  average  life  after  falling  is  four  years;  $50,000, 000 
a  year  is  expended  in  the  traffic. — Medical  Brief,  June. 

But  the  limit  has  been  reached;  the  end  is  at  hand.  The 
present  social  system  is  tottering,  and  ere  long  will  col- 
lapse.  Women  at  work.  Men  displaced,  Marriage  pre- 
vented. The  social  evil  augmented.  Woman  the  principal 
victim  and  sufferer. 

This  quota  will  be  added  to  the  general  upheaval.  Alone 
it  is  of  vast  impportance,  but  its  gravity  is  increased  when 
taken  in  connection  with  the  other  ills  that  have  siezed  the 
social  body.  And  the  social  body,  already  sick  unto  death 
with  many  diseases,  is  ready  to  succumb  when  this  ad- 
ditional affliction  is  added.    But  this  is  not  all. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE: 


How  Men  Are  Forced  to  Wage  Relentless  War  On  Each 
Other,  In  Order  to  Hold  Their  Own.— The  Hor- 
rible Cruelty  and  Debasing  Effects  of 
the  Situation. 


Strange  to  say,  that  with  the  increase  of  civilization, 
population,  and  improvements,  has  also  come  a  desperate 
battle  for  a  foothold  in  life.  A  strenuous  effort  that 
wears  out  body  and  soul,  and  is  kept  up  daily,  weekly, 
yearly,  until  the  victim,  tired,  worn,  spent,  and  old  before 
his  time,  is  forced  out  of  the  conflict. 

With  the  shriek  of  the  whistle,  the  great  throng  in  mad 
haste,  fly  to  their  work.  Then  all  through  the  long  day, 
a  killing  pace,  and  such  an  intensity  of  application  is  kept 
up  that  one  might  believe  the  day  of  judgment  were  com- 
ing, and  but  one  day  remained  to  get  ready  for  it.  Even 
the  banker  and  speculator  is  not  exempt.  All  rush  like 
mad.     At  noon  scarcely  any  rest  is  taken.     Indeed,  many 

scarcely  take  time  to  snatch  a  morsel  of  food. 

(249) 


250  THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE. 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  Bays : 

"Mr.  Rockefeller's  mad  race  to  own  the  world  has  re- 
sulted in  ruining  his  Btomach,  causing  his  hair  to  fall  out 
of  his  head,  his  eye-brows  and  moustache  to  disappear; 
it  has  succeeded  in  making  thousands  of  bis  competitor* 
go  into  bankruptcy,  and  in  causing  the  people  generally 
to  think  of  him  as  a  fiend.  If  he  had  lived  under  a  sine 
industrial  system,  Mr.  Rockefeller  might  have  been  as 
universally  liked,  as  he  is  well  liked  by  those  of  his 
friends.  It  is  the  system  of  profit  that  has  caused  all  his 
trouble.  It  is  driving  thousands  to  the  grave  of  suicide, 
and  the  poor  house,  as  the  days  ^o  by.  It  is  the  most 
damnable  thing — this  thing  called  profit — that  was  ever 
conceived  in  the  mind  of  savage  man.  And  the  people 
are,  beginning  to  see  the  depths  of  degradation  to  which 
profit  has  sunk  the  souls  of  men." 

And  why  this  mad  race?     What  is  the  great  r-take? 

It  is  simply  the  uncertainty  of  one's  position.  None 
feel  secure.  The  rich  banker,  speculator,  financier,  all 
fear  they  may  lose  their  foothold  any  minute.  The  next 
market  report  may  bring  news  of  financial  ruin.  Even 
many  merchants  and  manufacturers  struggle  under  a 
great  load.  For,  doing  business  at  a  loss,  the  morrow  is 
always  an  uncertainty,  for  fear  they  will  be  unable  to  meet 
obligations.  Thus  are  many  haunted  by  the  nightmares 
of  disaster.  Then  when  reverses  come,  how  often  is  relief 
sought  by  poison  or  the  pistol.     To  pick  up  a  paper  and 


THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE.  251 

read  that  a  business  man  has  killed  himself  is  of  common 
occurrence.     Here  are  a  few  samples. 

Just  an  ordinary  news  item  this:  "Forced  out  of  busi- 
ness and  practically  ruined  by  the  exactions  of  the  beef 
trust,  Louis  Holebeck  acknowledged  defeat  yesterday  by 
taking  his  own  life."— Press  dispatch  in  Baltimore  News 
of  April  2-1.  Holebeck  was  in  the  retail  business  in  New 
York.  His  customers  were  mostly  of  the  working  class; 
and  as  the  price  of  meat  went  up  his  profits  fell  away,  and 
his  trade  became  so  bad  that  he  had  to  close  his  shop. 
He  thought  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  find  work  at 
his  trade;  but  as  he  tramped  from  place  to  place  he  was 
told  that  men  were  being  discharged,  not  employed.  It 
was  too  much  for  him,  this  "unexampled  era  of  prosper- 
ity,*' so  he  took  his  own  life,  after  the  Beef  Trust  ("which 
does  not  exist")  took  his  business.  The  next  move  for  the 
financiers  will  be  to  make  a  "noble"  gift  to  some  church 
or  college  that  is  run  in  their  own  interest.  The  people 
learn  through  suffering. 

Depressed  by  financial  difficulties,  George  Erlinger, 
aged  seventy-one,  1221  North  Gay  street,  New  York,  a 
brush  manufacturer,  took  a  dose  of  poison  the  other  day 
as  the  quickest  way  out  of  his  troubles.  Thus  the  old 
sometimes  end  their  lives,  when  they  are  no  longer  able  to 
make  a  living  in  this  competitive  world.  Under  sane  con- 
ditions, this  old  man  would  have  spent  his  last  days  in 
peace.  As  one's  childhood  is  spent  in  play  and  amuse- 
ment, so  should  the  last  days  on  earth  be. 


252  THE  FIERCE  8TR1  6GLE. 

But  why  the  fierce  struggle  of  those  who  do  not  own  and 
operate  businesses  of  their  own?  They  have  nothing  at 
stake.    They  have  uo  capital  or  enterprises  to  worry  about. 

The  poorer  classes  have  worries  and  troubles,  in  get- 
ting their  daily  bread.  Many  a  man  employed  at  a  mini- 
mum wage,  dreads  disaster  t<>  his  employer,  more  than  the 
employer  himself,  simply  because  his  position  is  at  stake; 
and  on  his  position  depends  the  daily  bread  of  himself 
and  family.  Should  he  lose  this,  it  may  be  a  long  time  be- 
fore he  secures  another,  and  with  no  money  ot  friends  it 
is  no  wonder  he  worries  and  frets  away  his  life. 

Often  the  temptation  comes  to  be  dishonest.  A  news- 
paper has  the  following: 

"Henry  Penning,  homeless  and  out  of  work,  committed 
larceny  in  New  York  city,  was  arrested  and  put  in  jail, 
where  he  committed  suicide  in  order  to  get  away  from  the 
prosperity  that  is  abroad  in  the  land.  It  may  be  added 
that  he  was  not  one  of  the  guests  at  the  dinner  given  by 
Morgan  to  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia." 

Here  are  other  instances: 

"Mary  L.  Anderson,  aged  forty,  attempted  suicide  at 
8:30  a.  m.,  April  15.  She  had  been  out  of  employment 
for  some  time,  and  in  a  fit  of  despondency  used  a  carving 
knife  on  her  throat. — Baltimore  World."  The  above  is  a 
typical  news  item.  And  yet  we  call  this  a  happy  and  con- 
tented people,  worthy  to  carry  civilization  to  other  na- 
tions; and  capable  of  forcing  our  stereotyped  customs 
down  the  throats  of  foreigners. 


THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE. 

"Los  Angeles,  April  7.  Becoming  despondent  over  the 
difficulty  01  providing  for  herself  and  her  three  children, 
Mrs.  C.  F.  Schweitzer  of  El  Monte,  thirteen  miles  from 
this  city,  ended  her  life  by  drowning  herself  in  a  tank  of 
crude  oil.  The  body  was  today  found  floating  in  the  tank, 
which  is  connected  with  a  pumping  plant  on  a  neighboring 
ranch." 

The  terrible  struggle  for  existence,  with  the  consequent 
nervous  strain  wastes  the  powers  of  the  individual,  and 
undermines  the  health  of  mind  and  nerve.  It  is  no  won- 
der that  many  degenerate  morally.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
large  numbers  turn  to  dishonesty,  immorality,  and  suicide. 
The  strain  and  pressure  of  modern  competition  is  too 
severe. 

Suicide  is  increasing. 

Death,  naturally  feared  above  everything,  is  now  in 
many  cases  welcomed  as  a  friend.  Statistics,  and  the 
daily  papers  bear  this  out. 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  makes  the  following  observation : 

"Business  worries  cause  the  suicide  of  1,500  people  a 
year  in  the  principal  cities  of  this  country.  Nice  system, 
eh?  Vote  for  a  system,  believe  in  it,  fight  for  it, — and 
then  kill  one's  self  to  get  away  from  it!  The  modern 
business  man  is  a  lulu!  He  never  thinks — he  just  thinks 
he  thinks.  He  knows  less  of  the  system  he  lives  under, 
less  of  political  questions,  less  of  the  phenomena  about 
him  than  the, average  laboring  man  who  belongs  to  a  un- 
ion.    The  oilier  day  I  met  a  business  man  from  Kan<a- 


254  THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE. 

City  and  we  were  discussing  the  growth  and  meaning  of 
the  trusts  and  monopolies,  and  he  said  that  he  hed  never 
had  any  insight  into  the  subject  until  recently  when  he 
engaged  one  of  his  workmen  in  conversation,  and  he  had 
opened  his  eyes  to  what  all  this  ferment  anil  crushing 
meant.  He  said  he  was  no  match  for  the  employe  whom 
he  should  have  said,  had  he  been  asked,  was  an  ignorant, 
stupid  specimen  of  the  genus  homo.  The  business  man  is 
now  reading  up  to  be  as  intelligent  as  his  emploj 

The  great  increase  in  suicide  shows  increased  failures  in 
life.  It  shows  that  life,  liberty  and  happiness  are  becom- 
ing harder  and  harder  to  secure. 

Many  are  the  victims  of  modern  social  conditions. 
Some  have  been  robbed  of  reputation;  some  of  money; 
others  of  hope,  joy,  health;  or  of  things  that  make  life 
worth  living,  until  finally  to  the  poor  victim  of  unnatural 
conditions  even  the  grave  is  a  haven  of  rest.  These  are 
some  of  the  effects  of  a  system  that  is  sinful,  unjust  and 
unhealthy.     Unhealthy  morally,  mentally  and  physically. 

And  these  victims  are  woefully  numerous.  The  young, 
the  old,  the  rich,  the  poor,  all  kinds  and  all  classes. 

But  the  most  pathetic  of  all  is  the  child  suicide.  The 
Appeal  to  Reason  says: 

"In  1861-5  there  was  one  suicide  to  347  deaths.  In 
1895-9  there  was  one  in  every  198.  Where  there  used 
to  be  100  deaths  from  suicide  in  proportion  to  the  general 
mortality  there  are  now  175. 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  says: 


THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE.  255 

"Suicide  is  much  more  prevalent  amongst  men  than 
women,  and  at  certain  periods  of  life  more  than  others. 
If  we  work  out  the  ratio  of  suicide  amongst  males  during 
the  working  period  of  life,  i.  e.,  from  25  to  65  years  of 
age,  we  find  it  to  be  enormously  above  the  average.  In 
1861-5  the  ratio  of  suicide  amongst  males  from  25  to  65 
years  of  age  was  one  in  85  deaths;  in  1895-9  it  was  one  in 
54. 

"And  now  we  come  to  a  terrible  fact.  The  younger  the 
age  the  greater  has  been  the  increase  in  the  rate  of  suicide. 
From  45  to  65  years  of  age,  where  there  used  to  be  100 
male  deaths  from  suicide  in  proportion  to  the  mortality 
of  these  ages,  there  are  now  130.  From  25  to  45  years  of 
age,  where  there  used  to  be  100  there  are  now  201.  From 
15  to  25  years  of  age,  where  there  used  to  be  100  there  are 
now  256.  Such  has  been  the  increase  in  the  ratio  of  sui- 
cide to  the  mortality  since  1861-5. 

"The  saddest  thing  of  all  is  the  existence  and  increase 
of  child  suicide.  Child  misery  is  the  greatest  crime  of 
civilization;  a  crime  for  which  there  is  no  extenuation, 
and  for  which  there  can  be  no  forgiveness.  Here,  for  in- 
stance, is  the  pathetic  farewell  of  a  poor  little  Lancashire 
mill  lad  of  13,  who  drowned  himself  a  short  time  ago: 
'Goodnight  all.     John  Willie,    tell  my    mother  I    have 

jumped  into 's  lodge  because  I  am  tired  of  life.     God 

bless  you,  Jimmy !'     The  body  was  afterward  found  in  the 
mill  pond. 


256  THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE. 

"Since  1861  nearly  400  children  of  from  10  to  15  years 
of  age  have  put  an  end  to  their  lives." 

If  any  period  of  life  should  be  sacred  to  happinese  and 
joy;  to  education  and  development;  that  period  is  the 
days  of  childhood.  And  yet  there  are  countless  thous- 
ands who  never  have  any  childhood;  who  from  earliest 
infancy  know  only  hardship,  suffering  and  tribulation; 
who  are  better  acquainted  with  tears  and  sorrow  than  they 
are  with  laughter  and  happiness;  who  at  a  tender  age  are 
dragged  to  the  factories,  shop.-,  and  mines  to  have  every- 
thing good  and  high  and  noble  dwarfed  in  them ;  and  have 
instilled  in  them  principles  of  vice,  wickedness  and  crime. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  some  of  these  little  wretches  fre- 
quently take  their  lives?  With  no  hope  or  escape  open 
to  them  it  would  be  remarkable  if  even  the  majority  of 
them  should  grow  up  to  be  respectable  citizens.  The  sui- 
cide of  many  a  gray-beard  might  be  traced  back  to  an  early 
time  when  he  first  began  losing  his  hold  on  life.  Many  of 
these,  were  the  truth  known,  deserve  praise  instead  of 
blame  for  having  held  out  so  long  in  the  unequal  fight. 

Our  modern  strenuous  life  finds  all  kinds  of  victims. 
The  aged  with  but  a  few  days  to  live;  the  starving;  those 
from  whom  hope  has  fled;  the  bankrupt,  and  the  dis- 
graced. The  rich  who  have  escaped  all  this,  and  who 
should  be  contented  often  end  careers  that  have  been  nau- 
seated by  over-indulgence ;  the  criminal,  who,  by  the  way, 
ir.  made  such  nine  times  out  of  ten  by  a  distorted  and  mis- 
erable social  system;  and  finally  the  many  who  attempt, 
but  fail  to  take  their  lives. 


THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE. 

And  yet,  many  as  there  are  who  resort  to  suicide  to  es- 
cape the  struggle,  the  wonder  really  is  that  there  are  no 
more.  Human  nature  must  he  good,  and  brave,  and 
strong,  indeed,  to  put  up  such  a  good  fight  in  the  face  of 
so  many  wrongs  and  vicissitudes.  Consider  this: 
WHY  ARE  SUICIDES  SO  FEW  ? 

"Xew  York  Journal.  Many  people  wonder  why  there 
are  so  many  suicides.  The  extraordinary  thing  is  that 
there  are  so  many  who  fail  to  commit  suicide.  Every- 
body knows  that  there  are  in  America  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  men  who  cannot  get  work — hundreds  of 
thousands  willing  to  earn  their  bread,  who  are  obliged 
to  live  on  charity.  Could  anything  be  more  humiliating 
than  such  a  situation  when  forced  upon  a  man  willing 
but  unable  to  be  useful  ? 

"Of  course  the  answer  comes  that  this  is  the  process  of 
elimination,  of  weeding  out,  that  goes  on  throughout  crea- 
tion, from  the  oyster  up  to  the  American  citizen. 

"But  that  does  not  answer  the  original  question:  'Why 
is  it  that  so  few  destroy  themselves  V 

How  marvelous  in  its  force  must  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  be  which  compels  men  to  hang  on  to  their 
lives  in  the  face  of  humiliation,  added  to  hopelessness 
and  hunger. 

"The  Providence  or  the  laws  or  destiny  which  control 

us  here  must  have  some  important  plan  for  us  to  carry  out 

when  it  compels  men  who  would  rather  be  dead  to  live 

and  suffer." 
(17) 


258  THE  FIERCE  STRUGGLE. 

And  it  really  is  a  wonder  that  no  more  of  these  'nines 
actually  take  place.  To  live  in  a  country  surrounded  by 
plenty  and  to  always  go  without;  to  live  under  a  tree  and 
supposedly  righteous  government  and  to  be  continually 
wronged,  is  demoralizing  to  say  the  least.  It  is  madden- 
ing to  live  where  might  makes  right.  It  is  unnatural  to 
live  under  conditions  that  make  pauper-  and  millionair< 
tramps  and  scholars,  society  butterflies  and  desperadoes. 

But  everything  points  to  the  fact  that  such  conditions 
cannot  continue.  He  who  will,  may  read  as  he  runs. 
The  unnatural  strain  and  struggle  against  each  other  will 
be  kept  up  a  little  longer  and  then  something  will  snap. 
Listen  and  hear  the  breaking!  Look  and  behold  the 
rents ! 


CHAPTER  XV. 


EDUCATION. 


Misdirected  Education. — Institutions  Under  the  Control 

of  Plutocracy.  Politics  and  the  Public  Schools. 

Ignorance  of  Educators — "Business"  and 

the  College  Man. 


It  has  often  been  said  that  the  hope  of  the  world  lies 
in  education ;  because  ignorange  is  one  of  man's  great  ene- 
mies. This  is  true.  It  is  further  asserted  that  all  social 
and  industrial  questions,  will  be  solved  without  any  trou- 
ble, in  this  country;  the  American  people  being  so  highly 
educated.  For  America  has  schools  and  colleges  scattered 
from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other. 

Let  us-  see  if  education  can  and  will  prevent  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1907. 

In  order  to  perform  a  difficult  task,  one  must  be  educat- 
ed to  do  that  and  not  some  other  task.  To  illustrate:  If 
a  man  has  received  a  good  medical  education,  we  would 
not  say  he  could  perform  well  on  a  musical  instrument. 

(259) 


260  EDUCATION. 

Likewise  if  a  man  wanted  to  practice  law  he  would  not 
study  flowers  and  tn 

Yet  we  often  follow  exactly  that  method  of  reasoning 
when  we  listen  to  the  opinion-  of  graduates  and  profet.- 
sors,  on  subjects  they  have  never  investigated  A  man 
may  know  a  great  deal  about  mathematics,  yet  it"  he  has 
never  made  a  specialty  of  social,  industrial  and  political 
economy,  his  opinion  on  these  BUbjectfi  have  but  liti 
weight. 

Education,  then,  to  solve  the  social  and  industrial  qu 
tions,  must  be  along  these  lines.     At   present   it  almost 
ignores  them. 

Education,  if  properly  directed,  would  show  people  the 
flaws  and  fallacies  existing  under  presenl  economic  condi- 
tions, and  then,  all  being  thoroughly  posted,  could  vote 
and  legislate  intelligently  enough  to  correel  and  ehange 
them.  But  the  wrongs  and  abuses  of  the  present  system 
are  studiously  avoided.  The  educated  are  educated  along 
every  line  save  these. 

Why  do  not  the  schools  and  college-  teach  the  truth? 
Why  are  not  the  people  taught  how  to  legislate  against 
all  these  evils  ?  Simply  because  somebody  does  not  want 
them  to  do  so.  The  colleges  are  endowed  and  supported 
by  the  rich  and  are  consequently  under  their  control. 
Why  should  the  trust  barons  and  plutocrats  encourage  and 
promote  the  study  and  investigation  of  their  abominable 
ways?  Of  course  not!  It  would  be  suicide.  Thev  want 
no  change.     Present  methods  have  been  the  making  of 


Those  who  endow  the  colleges  are  at  the  fountain-head  of 
learning  and  prescribe  and  forbid  certain  studies. 


EDUCATION.  363 

them,  and  they  have  no  complaint.  Things  an 
enough  as  they  are.  All  the  injustice  and  wrong  prevail- 
ing redound  to  their  gain.  The  profits  go  to  them,  the 
misery  goes  to  the  poor.  As  they  do  not  wish  to  change 
present  conditions  every  text  book  and  lecture  on  the  sub- 
ject is  suppressed  and  discouraged  at  the  schools  and 
colleges.  Occasionally  some  teacher  persists  in  thinking 
and  denouncing  present  social  conditions.  J I  is  career  is 
cut  short.  The  rich  endowers  and  contributors  have  onlv 
to  mildly  protest  against  him  when  he  is  removed. 

It  is  true  that  literature,  science,  and  art  are  taught 
wonderfully  well.  But  a  head  crammed  full  of  Latin  and 
history  is  still  ignorant  of  the  wrrongs  and  evils  ali 
around,  if  an  investigation  has  never  taken  place. 

"One  of  the  common  faults  with  the  teaching  of  our 
schools  is  that  students  are  not  allowed  to  examine  the 
real  facts  of  economic  history.  The  class  struggle  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  school  room,  except  to  cast  a  shadow 
upon  the  agitators  of  the  past,  who  recognized  the  strug- 
gle that  has  been  running  through  all  the  years,  since 
private  property  in  the  earth  was  first  established  by  the 
strong  over-powering  the  weak.  Teachers  read  and  teach 
the  old  words,  and  old  ideas  that  the  conquerers  left  in 
their  will.  They  cling  to  the  skeleton  hand  that  reaches 
out  of  the  night,  and  offers  a  bribe  to  those  who  look  for 
the  dawn,  to  come  back  with  them  to  the  grave,  and  wear 
the  industrial  chains  of  wage-slavery  through  all  the  re- 


364  EDUCATION. 

maining years  of  time.    Students  begin  to  learn  the  truth, 
AFTEK  LEAVING  ENDOWED  COLLEGES." 

Nothing  musl  be  taughl  againsi  the  capitalist  class  oi 
plutocracy,  which  has  ground  its  millions  out  of  the  sweftl 

and  blood  of  the  m 

In  short,  the  whole  truth  is  this:    Those  who  support 
the  colleges,  dictate  what  shall  nol  be  taught.    Nol  in 
many  words.  but   indirectly.     Because  the  college  that 
pleases  them  gets  the  donations,  and  the  one  that  dis- 
pleases gets—nothing.    ResuH  :    All  colleges  try  to 
the  plutocracy.     Thus  we  find,  like   in   everything  el- 
plutocracy  stands  at  the  fountain  head  of  learning. 

How.  then,  can  the  social  and  industrial  question 
solved  by  education  as  conducted  today?    But  some  may 
say,  "How  about  the  public  schools?    Plutocracy  does  not 
contribute  to  them  and  hence  has  no  voice  in  their  con- 
trol.    They  are  controlled  by  the  public." 

Let  us  see.  who  controls  the  public  schools. 

Plutocracy  contributes  to  both  great  political  part 
The  Standard  Oil  Trust  admitted  once  in  court  that  they 
had  contributed  $50,000  to  the  Republican  party  in  one 
state  and  $50,000  to  the  Democratic  party  in  another,  the 
sole  object  being  to  keep  in  good  standing  with  the  power 
that  controlled,  regardless  of  what  it  might  be.  In  this 
way  Plutocracy  has  many  of  its  servants  placed  in  office. 
It  is  certainly  not  the  poor  who  control  the  political 
parties.  It  is  the  rich.  It  is  money.  Hence  the  Public 
Schools  are  controlled  by  the  politicians,  and  by  the  rich 


EDUCATION. 

and  their  tools.  So  that  while  the  private  colleges  are 
controlled  by  endowment,  the  public  schools  are  controlled 
by  politics  and  influence. 

Thus  once  more  we  find  plutocracy  holding  the  reins. 
We  would  not  think  of  permitting  this  class  to  pre- 
scribe the  medical  course  in  a  college,  nor  any  course  in 
science  or  art.  Neither  would  they  care  to.  It  does  not 
jeopardize  their  interests  in  any  way.  Yet  political  and 
social  economy  are  more  important  by  far.  In  these, 
though,  our  rulers  decide  what  shall  and  what  shall  not  be 
taught.  The  result  is  that  we  know  nothing  about  these 
sciences.  Medicine,  electricity  and  inventions  have  made 
rapid  strides.  They  are  a  hundred  years  ahead  of  the 
science  of  legislation.  When  we  think  of  great  statesmen, 
our  thoughts  involuntarily  turn  back  more  than  a  hundred 
years  to  Jefferson,  Washington,  etc.,  but  to  say  we  have 
great  statesmen  today — everybody  knows  better. 

Every  kind  of  learning  is  encouraged  save  that  which 
teaches  the  truth  in  regard  to  trusts,  plutocracy,  the  peo- 
ple's rights,  etc.  Xone  of  this  is  permitted  in  the  schools. 
Of  course,  this  cannot  be  suppressed  in  books,  magazines, 
press,  pulpit  and  rostrum,  but  it  can  be  in  the  thousands 
of  schools  and  colleges. 

So  then  if  the  statement  be  made  that  the  hope  of  the 
world  lies  in  education,  it  must  be  qualified.  Education  if 
properly  conducted  would  solve  the  social  and  industrial 
problem ;  but  as  conducted  today  it  never  will. 

Xote  the  ignorance  prevailing  along  these  lines.     Men 


266  EDUCATION. 

highly  educated  in  every  other  respect  manifest  the  ut- 
most stupidity  along  these  most  important  lines.  For  in- 
stance, Presided  Hadley  of  Vale  College  recently  h. 
gested  a  method  of  dealing  with  trusts.  He  said  thai 
social  ostracism  of  the  trust  magnates  would  offer  a  solu- 
tion to  the  problem.  Could  anything  be  more  hair- 
brained?  To  think  of  handling  these  mammoth  and 
world-wide  concerns  in  this  manner.  These  institutions 
that  defy  governments!  To  think  of  overcoming  their 
gigantic  strength  with  a  society  snub!  What  is  the  mat- 
ter with  Mr.  Hadley?  [s  there  something  wrong  with 
him?  \>  he  weak-minded?  Net  at  all.  lie  simply  is  not 
posted  along  this  line.  And  not  being  posted  is  as  much 
out  of  place  as  a  jockey  or  sailor  would  he  in  the  presi- 
dential chair  at  Yale  College.  However,  the  jockey  and 
sailor  would  know  and  have  sense  enough  to  admit  that 
their  training  left  out  presidential  chairs.  But  President 
Hadley  knows  it  all.  The  trust  question?  Easiest  thing 
in  the  world.  Don"!  admit  the  trust  people  into  society. 
Wonderful  wisdom.  Wonderful  statesmanship!  Great 
shades  of  Jefferson  and  Washington! 

And  yet  Mr.  Hadley  never  doubted  for  an  instant  his 
superior  ability  and  knowledge  on  these  questions.  In 
fact,  at  the  time  he  made  the  statement  he  was  touring  the 
country,  looking  over  different  railway  systems,  prepara- 
tory to  enlightening  the  American  people  and  uttering 
pearly  truths  of  great  wisdom  on  the  transportation  prob- 
lem.   I  have  never  had  the  benefit  of  his  views  on  this 


EDUCATION. 

question,  and  have  wondered  many  times  if  they  were  as 
profound  and  deep  as  his  views  on  the  trust  question. 

But  he  is  not  the  only  one.  The  education  of  all  our 
teachers  has  been  sadly  neglected  along  these  lines.  In 
times  of  panic  what  views  prevail!  What  outlandish  rem- 
edies are  proposed.  The  last  panic  and  crisis  of  '93  was 
caused  by  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago,  according  to  some. 
Another  theory  was  the  sun  spot  theory;  the  adherants  of 
the  latter  claiming  that  whenever  the  sun  had  certain 
spots  on  it  a  panic  would  surely  follow,  reasoning  that  the 
heat  of  the  sun  was  tampered  with,  which  had  a  bad  effect 
on  crops,  thus  precipitating  the  panic. 

Another  old  theory,  which,  thank  goodness,  has  almost 
been  abandoned  is  the  Malthusan  theory,  which  holds 
that  population  increases  faster  than  food  products. 
Hence  there  is  a  crowding  and  a  struggle  for  existence. 

Some  thought  that  the  poor  were  not  saving  enough. 
That  they  ought  to  work  harder  and  spend  less. 

Some  said  women  were  the  fault,  as  they  were  taking 
the  work  awav  from  men. 

Some  said  there  was  over-production,  a  glut,  a  lack  of 
market;  others  said  it  was  the  tariff,  or  free  trade,  or  the 
silver  question.  So  it  went  all  the  way  down  the  lines. 
We  all  had  our  views  and  have  yet.  We  are  right,  gener- 
ally, in  proportion  to  the  honest  study  and  investigations 
we  have  made.  Yet  there  are  many  exceptions.  We  still 
disagree  with  each  other.  What  some  say  is  good  others 
say  is  bad  and  vice  versa.     And  this  is  exactly  what  is 


268  EDUCATION. 

wanted  by  our  plutocratic  masters.  As  long  as  we  disagree 
they  are  sale.  We  will  always  disagree  as  Long  as  we  are 
kept  in  ignorance  pn  these  3pecial  subjects.  It  is  safe  for 
the  plutocrats  to  keep  as  divided. 

Were  the  public  to  be  educated  along  these  lines,  in- 
telligent elections  and  Legislation  would  tajce  place.  The 
people  would  become  aware  thai  the  rich  were  growing 
richer  and  the  poor,  poorer;  and  fully  alive  to  the  horrors 
of  child  Labor,  and  many  kindred  evils,  could  take  im- 
mediate steps  to  abolish  all  of  them.  They  would  act  in 
union  against  plutocracy,  and  establish  "a  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the  people." 

Is  it  likely,  then,  that  as  long  as  the  rich  control  the 
colleges  and  the  politicians  have  charge  of  the  public 
schools  any  of  these  doctrines  will  be  taught?  Xo,  be- 
cause before  many  years  an  army  of  brainy  and  enlight- 
ened people  would  he  spreading  the  truth  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific.  In  short,  it  is  a  mistaken  idea  to 
suppose  that  education  as  dispensed  to-day  will  meet  and 
solve  the  social  and  industrial  problem.  A  -student  turned 
out  of  the  present  schools  is  harmless  to  the  trust  baron  or 
plutocrat.  His  head  is  filled  with  latin,  mathematics  and 
science.  His  education  is  complete,  and  he  would  smile 
at  any  information  that  did  not  come  from  the  colleges. 
It  would  be  a  hopeless  task  to  try  and  convince  him  that 
he  was  as  ignorant  as  a  new-born  babe  on  the  real  live 
issues  of  the  day.  He  has  high  ideals,  very  high,  con- 
cerning many  things.    He  has  none  economically. 


EDUCATION.  269 

He  is  the  hardest  person  in  the  world  to  convince.  The 
man  who  isn't  highly  educated  is  more  open  to  conviction 
than  he. 

Finally,  then,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  the  revolu- 
tion will  not  be  prevented  by  education  such  as  is  gen- 
erally understood. 

Of  course,  the  people  as  yet  haven't  offered  this  crit- 
icism against  modern  educational  institutions,  but  they 
have  a  criticism.  It  is  a  wonderful  one.  It  is  so  remark- 
able that  I  cannot  refrain  from  touching  on  it. 

We  have  all  heard  the  ridiculous  remark  "Colleges  do 
not  fit  a  man  for  business."  I  shall  proceed  to  deal 
with  this  remark  in  the  most  forcible  language  possible. 
I  want  to  show  how  shallow  and  thoughtless  it  is. 

A  college  education  in  order  to  fit  a  man  to  cope  in  the 
business  world  today,  would  have  to  develop  the  cunning, 
the  shrewdness,  the  avarice,  the  cruelty  and  coldness  in 
the  student,  and  permit  to  lie  dormant  kindness,  gentle- 
ness, loveableness,  generosity,  pity,  warmth  and  feeling  of 
all  description.  The  high,  the  moral,  the  noble  principles 
of  man  must  not  be  developed;  the  meanest,  the  basest 
and  most  physical  must  be,  and  you  have  your  modern  and 
successful  business  man.  He  must  be  able  to  cut  wages 
without  feeling.  He  must  look  upon  the  ruin  and  down- 
fall of  a  competitor  with  coldness  and  indifference.  He 
must  not  wince  if  the  militia  shoot  down  his  striking  em- 
ployees. The  suffering  of  the  wives  and  children  of  the 
strikers  must  not  touch  his  heart. 


270  EDUCATION. 

Can  any  one  deny  thai  this  is  a  picture  of  the  modern 
businessman?  True,  there  are  many  exceptions.  Thank 
heaven,  there  arc  many  business  men  who  would  and  have 
accepted  failure  rather  than  injure  a  fellowman.  But  as 
competition  becomes  keener  and  keener  business  is  lie- 
coming  more  and  more  a  desperate  and  heartless  conflict 
in  which  but  few  can  win. 


Do  people  think,  when  they  say  colleges  ought  to  teach 
men  to  be  monsters  of  cruelty  and  heartless  selfishm 
No!    They  have  hardly  realized  into  what  condition  mod- 
ern business  has  degenerated.    If  they  did  such  thought- 
less suggestions  would  not  be  made. 

Thank  goodness  the  colleges  do  not  teach  us  how  to  be- 
come successful  business  men.  By  far  rather  ignore  the 
whole  question,  as  they  do  to-day,  than  follow  such  a 
course. 

But  a  word  in  regard  to  the  man  who  has  just  finished 
college.  Perhaps  he  is  filled  to  the  brim  with  classics,  with 
science,  art,  or  literature,  and  his  ideals  are  very  high.  It 
is  now  time  to  strike  out  in  the  world.  Above  all  things, 
he  wishes  to  succeed.  Sad  to  say,  all  success  to-day  is 
measured  by  dollars  and  cents.  To  be  a  successful  man 
he  must  make  money.  To  his  bitter  disappointment,  hr. 
finds  this  has  degenerated  into  a  degrading  task.  He  finds 
men  who  willingly  waive  all  principles  of  honor  to  mak:j 
money  and  be  counted  successful.  Close  application  to  his 
books  and  studies  has  kept  this  alarming  condition  from 


EDUCATION.  27] 

him.    He  never  thought  going  out  into  the  world  meant  a 
grappling  with  such  unprincipled  men. 

However,  he  must  make  up  his  mind  as  to  the  coir 
he  will  pursue.  Shall  he  hecome  mercenary,  selfish  and 
avaricious  ?  Shall  he  enter  the  conflict,  and,  like  his  com- 
petitors, resort  to  any  and  all  means  to  succeed?  Or 
shall  he  preserve  his  integrity,  his  principles;  his  high 
ideals?  Suppose  he  tries  to  pursue  the  right.  If  he  tried 
to  observe  the  golden  rule  he  will  be  taken  advantage  of 
at  every  turn.  Those  without  conscience  have  every  ad- 
vantage over  those  of  keen  conscience  and  honor.  They 
can  outstrip  them  in  the  race.  Whenever  a  brainy  man 
like  this  fails,  thoughtless  people  sometimes  say,  "Well, 
it's  too  bad,  but  a  college  education  does  not  fit  a  man  for 
business.''  1  say,  heaven  spare  us  from  one  that  does,  it 
must  be  a  most  degenerate  education  that  fits  a  man  to  be 
more  cunning  and  pitiless  than  some  of  the  human  hyenas 
that  infest  the  business  world  today. 

On  the  other  hand,  suppose  he  decides  to  succeed,  even 
though  he  must  waive  all  principle  and  honor.  Still  there 
remain  many  obstacles  in  his  way.  To  begin  with,  if  he  lias 
no  capital  his  chances  are  very  slim.  If  he  has  immc 
capital,  he  will  be  almost  sure  to  succeed.  Without  capital 
he  must  work  for  somebody  else.  To  begin  in  a  small  way 
and  work  up  is  out  of  the  question  altogether.  Such 
chances  and  openings  are  gone  forever. 

And  right  here  one  of  the  gravest  charges    may    be 


2VZ  EDUCATION. 

lirought  against  modern  business,  and  it  is  so  important 
that  I  must  digress  long  enough  to  touch  on  it. 

Modern  business  methods  are  responsible  for  the  clos- 
ing up  of  all  the  opening-  and  avenues  that  lead  to  busi- 
ness success.  No  more  openings  remain.  Either  one  nni-t 
start  in  business  with  immense  capital  or  take  a  position 
working  for  somebody  else.  The  young  man  with  only 
brain  and  pluck  is  out  of  the  race  even  before  he  starts. 
In  olden  times  everybody  had  a  <  hance  to  start  in  business 
for  himself.  The  journeyman  shoemaker  had  only  to  pro- 
cure himself  a  set  of  tools,  a  bench  and  a  room  to  work 
in,  and  he  had  an  opening  and  an  equal  opportunity  with 
everybody  else.  Today  he  would  have  to  own  an  elaborate 
factory  and  expensive  machinery,  all  of  which  takes  capi- 
tal. The  carpenter  of  yore  had  little  more  difficulty  in 
starting  in,  while  to-day  he  would  require  an  expensive 
planing  mill  with  all  kinds  of  machinery,  which  would  also 
take  an  immense  capital.  Likewise'  the  small  merchant 
had  no  mammoth  department  store  to  compete  with,  and 
could  begin  on  a  very  small  scale. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood.  I  do  not  advocate  a 
return  to  old-time  methods,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
with  the  passing  of  the  small  business  enterprise  has  gone 
the  opening  for  the  young  man. 

The  young  man  fresh  from  college  will  find  these  open- 
ings few  and  far  between. 

Suppose  he  has  no  capital  and  must  work  for  some- 
body else.    He  immediately  finds  a  host  of  young  men 


EDUCATION. 

struggling  for  the  same  prize  that  he  is.  All  struggling 
for  a  promotion,  and  for  every  lucrative  position  held  out 
there  are  scores  doing  their  utmost  and  straining  every 
nerve  to  win.  Only  a  few  can  win.  And  these  are  gener- 
ally the  strangest.  The  rest  must  remain  where  they  arc 
Yet  there  are  many  who  persist  that  there  is  plenty  of 
room  at  the  top!  An  old  and  fallacious  saying.  There 
is  no  more  hope  of  all  succeeding  to-day  than  there  is  for 
ever}'  runner  to  win  in  a  foot-race,  or  than  there  is  for 
every  man  to  be  president  of  the  United  States. 

So,  with  the  competitive  struggle  so  fierce,  the  tempta- 
tion to  do  wrong  grows  stronger  every  day. 

Thus  the  college  graduate  is  soon  brought  face  to  face 
with  things  that  surprise  him.  He  learns  facts  that  were 
not  included  in  the  college  curriculum.  Sometimes  he  will 
wonder  why  they  were  not,  and  why  he  was  left  to  learn  so 
many  things  in  the  bitter  school  of  experience.  But  he 
seldom  digs  deep  enough  to  discover  the  real  cause.  Those 
students  who  are  rich  or  who  make  a  success  of  life  never 
think  of  the  subject  at  all.  To  them  everything  is  just  as 
perfect  as  can  be  desired,  and  they  have  no  objections  to 
offer  whatever.  The  unfortunate  ones  sometimes  discover 
the  power  behind  the  throne  and  lend  their  aid  and  sup- 
port to  all  efforts  of  reform. 

To  recapitulate,  then,  it  is  futile  to  look  to  the  colleges 
and  schools  of  the  present  day  to  rectify  any  or  all  of  our 
social  and  industrial  evils.  Plutocracy  would  strain  even- 
point  to  prevent  light  on  these  subjects  escaping  from 

these  institutions  of  learning. 
(18) 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


THE   CHURCH. 


Its  Exalted  Mission:  Lamentable  Failure  in  Fulfilling  It- 
Why  It  Does  \<>t  Draw  the  Massi The  Worship 

of  Mammon — Corruption  in  High  Places — 
Why  It  Will  Be  Unable  to  Pre- 
vent the  Revolution. 


Since  we  cannot  look  to  education  to  avert  the  impend- 
ing calamity,  another  influence  Buggests  itself  as  a  pro- 
posed remedy.     And  this  is  the  church  or  religion. 

If  there  is  any  influence  that  should  pour  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters  it  is  that  of  the  church.  It  should  be  a 
light  to  the  world,  and  utter  in  no  uncertain  tones  con- 
demnation of  evil  wherever  found.  It  should  champion 
right  and  the  oppressed  at  all  times.  It  should  be  a  heal- 
ing balm  to  the  wounded  and  broken  hearted  at  all  times. 
To  a  monitor  of  this  kind  the  people  would  lend  an  obedi- 
ent and  willing  ear.     They  would  hearken  to  and  heed 

such  a  voiee. 

(274) 


THE  CHURCH. 

Has  the  church  been  such  a  monitor?  Have  the  peo- 
ple hearkened  to  her  ?  If  so  the  church  will  be  a  strong 
factor  in  quieting  the  storm.  If  not  its  words  will  carry 
but  little  weight. 

Let  us  inspect  the  record  of  the  church  to-day.  What 
has  it  done  for  the  poor;  for  the  widows  and  orphans; 
the  oppressed  and  homeless? 

Sad  to  say,  the  evidence  is  against  this.  The  evidence 
shows  that  it  has  felt  the  paralyzing  touch  of  mammon 
and  the  world.  The  evidence  shows  that  the  masses  have 
turned  sorrowfully  from  it  in  disappointment. 

The  following,  by  Bishop  K.  S.  Foster,  of  the  M.  E. 
Church,  we  clip  from  the  Gospel  Trumpet.  It  bears  the 
same  testimony,  though  in  different  language;  a  little  too 
plainly  perhaps  for  some,  as  the  bishop  has  since  been  re- 
tired against  his  wish  and  despite  his  tears.  Bishop  Foster 
said: 

"The  church  of  God  is  to-day  courting  the  world.  Its 
members  are  trying  to  bring  it  down  to  the  level  of  the 
ungodly.  The  ball,  the  theater,  nude  and  lewd  art,  social 
luxuries,  with  all  their  loose  moralities,  are  making  in- 
roads into  the  secret  enclosure  of  the  church;  and  as  i 
satisfaction  for  all  this  worldliness,  Christians  are  making 
a  great  deal  of  Lent  and  Easter  and  Good  Friday  ami 
church  ornamentations.  It  is  the  old  trick  of  Satan.  The 
Jewish  church  struck  on  that  rock;  the  Eomish  church 
was  wrecked  on  the  same,  and  the  Protestant  church  is 
fast  reaching  the  same  doom. 


276  THE  CHURCH. 

"Our  great  dangers,  as  we  see  them,  arc  assimilation  to 

the  world,  neglect  of  the  poor,  substitution  of  the  form 
fcr  the  fact  of  godliness,  abandonment  of  discipline,  a 
hireling  ministry,  an  impure  gospel— which,  summed  up,  is 
a  fashionable  church.  That  Methodists  Should  be  liable 
to  such  an  outcome  and  thai  there  should  be  signs  of  it  in 
a  hundred  years  from  the  'sail  loft"  seems  almost  the 
miracle  of  history;  but  who  that  looks  about  him  to-day 
can  fail  to  see  the  fact  ?" 
The  Literary  Digest  says: 

"Not  long  since  a  \c\v  England  clergyman  addressed  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  Presidenl  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  asking    him     to    state  why,  in  his 
opinion,  so  many  intelligent  workingmen  do  not  attend 
church.    In  reply  Mr.  Gompers  -aid  that  one  reason  is  that 
the  churches  are  no  longer  in  touch  with  the  hopes  and 
aspirations  of  workingmen,  and  are  out  of  sympathy  with 
their  miseries  and  burdens.     The  pastors  either  do  not 
know,  he  said,  or  have  not  the  courage  to  declare  from 
their  pulpits,  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  toiling  millions. 
The  organizations  found  most  effective  in  securing  im- 
proved conditions  have  been  frowned  upon  by  the  church. 
Laborers  have  had  their  attention  directed  to  'the  sweet 
by  and  by/  to  the  utter  neglect  of  the  conditions  arising 
fiom  'the  bitter  now  and  now.'    The  church  and  the  min- 
istry have   been   the    'apologists   and   defenders   of   the 
wrongs  committed   against  the  interests  of  the  people, 
simply  because  the  perpetrators    are     the    possessors  o' 


THE  CHURCH. 


. .  . 


a 


wealth/  Asked  as  to  the  means  he  would  suggesl  for 
reconciliation  of  the  church  and  the  masses,  Mr.  Gompera 
recommends  <a  complete  reversal  of  the  present  attitude.' 
He  closes  with  these  words:  'He  who  fails  to  sympathize 
with  the  movement  of  labor,  he  who  complacently  or  in- 
differently  contemplates  the  awful  results  of  present 
economic  and  social  conditions,  is  not  only  the  opponent  of 
the  best  interests  of  the  human  family,  but  is  particeps 
criminis  to  all  wrongs  inflicted  upon  the  men  and  women 
of  our  time,  the  children  of  to-day,  the  manhood  and 
womanhood  of  the  future.'  " 

Yet  few,  very  few,  can  read  the  handwriting  on  the  wall, 
and  they  are  powerless  to  overcome,  or  even  to  stay,  the 
popular  current.  Mr.  T.  DeWitt  Talmage  seems  to  see 
and  understand  to  some  extent,  for,  in  a  discourse,  he  said: 
"Unless  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  rises  up  and  proves 
herself  the  friend  of  the  people  as  the  friend  of  God,  and 
in  sympathy  with  the  great  masses,  who  with  their  families 
at  their  backs  are  fighting  this  battle  for  bread,  the 
church,  as  at  present  organized,  will  become  a  defunct 
institution,  and  Christ  will  go  down  again  to  the  beach  and 
invite  plain,  honest  fishermen  to  come  into  an  apostleship 
of  righteousness — manward  and  Godward.  The  time  has 
come  when  all  classes  of  people  shall  have  equal  rights  in 
the  great  struggle  to  get  a  livelihood." 

Other  significant  expressions  through  the  press,  of  the 
popular  judgment,  are  as  follows : 

"The  Catholic  Review  and  some  other  papers  insist  that 


278  THE  CHURCH. 

there  should   be   'religious   instruction    in    the   prisons.1 
Thai's  right.    We  go  further  than  that.    There  Bhould  !>  ■ 
religious  instruction  in  other  places  besides  the  prisoi 
in  the  homes,  for  instance,  and  in  the  Sunday  Bchi 
Yes,  we  will  not  be  outdone  in  Liberality,  we  favor  religious 
instruction  in  some  churches.    You  canM  have  too  much  oi 

;i  good  thing  if  vou  take  il   in  moderation."' 

In  an  article  in  The  Forum  of  October,  '90,  on  "Social 
Problems  and  the  Church/'  by  Bishop  Huntington,  we 
have  his  comment  onaverj  ootable  and  significant  fact,. is 

follows : 

"'When  a  great  mixed  audience  in  one  of  the  public 
halls  in  New  York  cheered  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
hissed  the  name  of  the  church,  it  Bettled  no  question, 
solved  no  problem,  proved  no  proposition,  expounded  no 
Scripture,  but  it  was  as  significant  as  half  the  Bermons  that 
are  preached.'  He  then  referred  to  the  tact  that  the  time 
was  'when  the  people  heard  the  words,  'Christ  and  the 
church,'  with  reverent  silence  if  not  with  enthusiastic  de- 
votion, and  then  remarked:  'Only  in  these  later  days 
when  workingmen  think,  read,  reason  and  reflect,  does  a 
promiscuous  crowd  rudely,  rather  than  irreverently,  take 
the  two  apart,  honoring  the  one  and  scouting  the  other."  " 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  says : 

"According  to  the  news  dispatches,  Rev.  Russell  Con- 
well,  of  Philadelphia,  recently  made  the  following  state- 
ment in  Omaha:  'Every  man  in  Omaha  has  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  get  rich.    It  is  a  disgrace,  too,  for  any  man  to 


THE  CHURCH.  27g 

live  in  Omaha  for  ten  years  and  not  be  rich.  \o  man  has  a 
right  to  be  poor.  As  a  rule  the  poor  people  are  the  dishon  • 
est  people,and  the  rich  people  are  the  honest  people  in  this 
day  of  Christian  civilization.  The  foundation  of  busines 
success  and  Christianity  are  identical.  Money  is  power 
and  you  should  pray  for  power.  Get  money,  no  matter 
how;  nor  who  suffers  by  you  taking  from  the  producers 
what  by  right  belongs  to  them.'  'Get  money;  get  it  honesi 
if  you  can;  but  get  money/  That's  the  doctrine,  and  the 
aforesaid  gentleman  will  pray  for  your  wrong  doing  pro- 
vided you  donate  to  one  of  his  enterprises." 

It  is  plain  then  that  the  church,  delinquent  in  its  duty, 
weakened  and  palsied,  will  not  command  respect  enough  in 
the  great  day  of  trouble  to  stay  the  hand  of  trouble. 

I  do  not  for  an  instant  assert  that  this  grandest  of  insti- 
tutions is  passing  away  forever,  or  that  it  will  fail  to  tri 
umph  or  be  glorified  in  the  end.  Far  from  it.  But  I  do 
most  emphatically  say  that  it  is  falling  far  short  of  its  high 
calling  in  the  present  day;  and  will  utterly  fail  to  draw 
men  after  it  and  away  from  the  grave  dangers  ahead. 

How  is  it  possible  for  the  church  to  gain  the  confidence 
of  the  people — the  poor  and  oppressed — when  her  own 
garments,  which  should  be  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  ai 
often  polluted  with  the  same  filth  that  corrupts  the  body 
politic  ?  Nothing  is  more  painful  to  the  earnest  Christian 
than  to  discover  these  blots  on  the  fair  fame  of  that  holy 
institution.  But  they  are  often  so  glaring,  so  palpably 
apparent  to  the  whole  world  that  it  would  not  only  be 


280  THE  CHURCH. 

hypocrisy,  but  sheer  idiocy  to  attempl  to  conceal  the  facts, 
and  no  good  ever  came  from  such  concealmenl  however  we 
may  deplore  them.  Ii  is  best  to  look  them  in  the  face  and 
make  an  honest  confession,  though  ii  covers  us  with 
shame. 

The  revelations  in  the  case  of  the  M.  E.  Church  South 
and  the  publishing  house  scandal  are  humiliating  to  every 
Christian,  without  regard  to  denominational  lines.  We 
give  this  instance,  not  because  this  great  branch  of  the 
church  is  worse  than  other-:  nay.  she  is  perhaps  Dearer 
the  great  heart  of  the  people  than  any  other.  She  has 
been  corrupted  as  little  by  the  prevailing  influences  of  evil 
in  the  world  as  any  oilier;  yet,  what  are  the  facts  in  this 
case?  During  the  Civil  War  the  federal  troops  occupied 
the  buildings  of  the  publishing  house  and  \\<vd  the  plant 
for  military  purposes.  The  church  was  kept  from  the  use 
of  its  property  during  nearly  the  whole  period  of  the  war, 
and  when  the  property  was  restored  it  was  almosi  a  total 
wreck.  Conservative  judges  placed  the  actual  damage 
done  at  over  $500,000.  A  claim  for  restitution  was  brought 
before  Congress,  but  more  than  thirty  years  passed  before 
any  definite  action  was  taken  by  that  body.  Final  ly, 
$288,000  was  appropriated  to  cover  the  loss.  Everyone 
who  was  informed  admitted  the  claim  was  just;  but  how 
was  the  money  recovered?  It  developed  that  Barbee  & 
Smith,  the  agents  of  the  publishing  house,  had  employed 
a  lobbyist,  E.  B.  Stahlman,  to  get  the  bill  through  Con- 
gress.   They  made  a  contract  with  him  to  pay  him  35  per 


THE  CHURCH. 

cent  of  the  gross  sum  recovered.  Eumors  of  this  contract 
reached  the  ears  of  certain  Senator*  and  Congressmen  and 
threatened  to  jeopardize  the  bill.  Friends  of  the  measure 
communicated  with  the  agents  and  asked  for  the  facts. 
These  agents  positively  and  repeatedly  denied  the  facts. 
These  denials  were  taken  in  good  faith  by  both  Senators 
and  Representatives,  who  reiterated  and  emphasized  them 
on  the  floors  before  their  respective  bodies,  and  the  bill 
was  passed  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  none  of 
the  money  should  go  for  any  purpose  except  the  legitimate 
beneficiaries  of  the  publishing  house.  Of  course  when  the 
facts  became  known  there  Avas  a  sensation,  but  the  con- 
servative people  of  the  country  refused  to  blame  the 
church  for  the  actions  of  its  agents,  and  waited  with 
pended  judgment  until  she  should  act  upon  the  matter. 
Xo  one  could  doubt  but  dishonest  methods  had  been  used; 
it  had  been  absolutely  demonstrated  that  the  book  agents 
were  guilty  of  falsehood,  but  people  all  over  the  country 
said:  "The  church  will  repudiate  the  whole  transaction 
and  redeem  her  name  from  dishonor."  Did  she?  Less 
than  two  months  after  the  money  was  secured  the  General 
Conference  of  the  church  met  in  Quadrenial  session. 
At  this  time  the  facts  had  not  been  made  public,  and  the 
whole  country  supposed  that  everything  was  straight  and 
the  money  honestly  obtained,  and  was  congratulating  the 
church  on  having  at  last  come  into  her  ov  n.  Now,  in  this 
church  a  book  committee  of  more  than  a  dozen  members 
has  control  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  publishing 


282  THE  CHUHCH. 

house  except  the  election  of  the  agents,  which  U  done  by 
the  Gene  ml  Conference.    In  a  Becrel  m  of  this  book 

committee,  during  this  session  of  conference,  all  the  t 
Were  presented  and  discussed,  which  afterward  caused  the 
sensation  when  made  public;  yci   this  book  commits 
knowing  these  facts,  not  only  permitted  these  agents  to  be 
re-elected,  by  keeping  the  conference  in  ignorance  of  the 

facts,  but  raised  the  salary  of  each  *.* per  annum.    Were 

not  these  men  as  guilty  as  the  book  agents?     Ami  they 
did  represent  the  church. 

But  the  exposure  finally  came.  Then  conservative  peo- 
ple said:  "Wait  until  the  next  session  of  the  General  Con- 
ference and  the  church  will  set  her  seal  of  disapproval 
upon  the  infamy."  What  this  conference  did  is  recent  his- 
tory and  need  not  be  recited  ;  but  one  of  those  book  agents 
is  still  in  office,  the  other  a  presiding  elder.  Stalilman  has 
not  disgorged,  and  the  money  has  not  been  returned  to 
Congress;  in  fact,  it  has  not  all  been  used  for  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  appropriated — the  superanuate  fund — 
wbich  is  the  only  legitimate  use  that  can  be  made  of  it. 
Part  of  it  went  for  increased  salaries  and  part  to  establish, 
branch  houses  in  Texas  and  China. 

Now,  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts,  can  this  church,  as 
an  institution,  escape  the  charge  of  double  dealing  and 

dishonesty? 

I  want  k>  reiterate  that  I  do  not  select  this  particular 
church  as  though  it  were  worse  than  others,  but  rather, 


THE  CHURCH.  283 

because  it  is  better  than  most;  and  yet  these  facts  are 
notorious. 

But  it  is  also  notorious  among  the  preachers  of  another, 
and  even  larger  church,  that  one  of  her  greatest  leaders — 
in  fact,  many  consider  him  the  greatest  orator  in  her  pul- 
pit— has  been  guilty  time  and  again  of  scandalous  conduct 
with  women.  Yet  no  one  dares  to  bring  him  to  justice. 
He  is  too  powerful  with  the  moneyed  interests  of  the 
church. 

Evidence  from  all  sources  might  be  adduced  to  show 
that  the  church  generally  is  favoring  capitalism  and  the 
rich.  And  that  in  doing  so  is  losing  its  hold  on  the  great 
mass  of  the  people. 

With  this  power  gone  it  is  very  improbable  that  it  can 
and  will  settle  the  great  social  and  industrial  questions 
that  are  stirring  society  to  its  foundations.  If  it  could  it  is 
doubtful  if  it  would.  Its  sjanpathy  and  support  go  nega- 
tively to  plutocracy. 

When  the  revolution  breaks  upon  us  there  will  be  no  re- 
straint or  check  morally.  Education  and  the  Church  might 
have  furnished  this,  but  the  power  of  mammon  has  pre- 
vented it.  In  all  its  fury  it  will  burst  upon  a  people  whose 
suffering  and  misery  will  be  intense;  who  in  their  con- 
fusion and  trouble  will  not  know  which  way  to  turn  or 
what  to  do. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

THE    FARMER. 


History  of  Land  Ownership;  the  People  Becoming  Ten- 
ants—Millions of  Acres  Owned  By  Railroads  and 
Other  Corporations— Tin   Farmer  Robbed  On 
All  Sides — An  Industrial  Slave  to  a 
Ruthless  Master,  Plutocracy. 


The  question  of  escaping  the  calamity  comes  up  for  a 
brief  consideration.  One  might  leave  the  country  and  find 
safety  in  Europe  or  England.  But  as  70,000,000  peopie 
could  not  pull  up  stake  and  escape  from  each  other,  it  is 
useless  to  discuss  emmigration.  A  handful  of  the  rich  will 
do  this,  but  even  they  may  be  going  from  the  frying  pan 
into  the  fire.  The  same  economic  laws  are  at  work  in 
l'u rope  as  in  America,  and  stupendous  social  and  labor 
troubles  may  overtake  European  society  before  it  does  us. 
So  much  for  that. 

But  another  means  of  escape  proposed  I  wish  to  investi- 
gate more  closely:  that  is,  the  suggestion  that  the  peopl-3 

(284) 


THE  FARMER.  285 

move  out  into  the  country  on  farms,  etc.,  and  there,  living 
in  quiet  and  peace,  be  free  from  the  impending  troubles. 

Recently  a  friend,  confiding  in  me,  said  he  feared  he 
would  lose  his  position,  as  it  was  said  a  trust  proposed  to 
absorb  the  firm  he  was  working  for.  He  finished  by  say- 
ing: "Well,  if  the  worst  comes,  one  can  always  take  his 
family  and  move  out  on  a  farm."  There  never  can  be  a 
trust  of  farms  and  the  people  can  always  have  that  as  an 
a\  enue  of  escape." 

I  said:  "You  are  mistaken  if  you  think  farm  life  is  a 
way  of  escape.  Even  though  a  few  families  with  a  little 
money  move  to  the  country  and  prosper,  what  would  hap- 
pen if  the  great  mass  of  the  people  did  likewise  ?  What 
would  be  the  result  if  people  by  the  hundred  thousands 
and  millions  flocked  to  the  farms?  Intense  competition; 
a  great  decline  in  prices;  and  the  most  intense  suffering 
and  distress  imaginable."  No,  farm  life  is  -not  the  solu- 
tion of,  or  escape  from  the  impending  troubles. 

Further,  I  am  going  to  prove  that  the  farm,  instead  of 
being  a  national  safety  valve,  is  going  to  be  a  fruitful 
source  of  trouble  and  discontent;  and  that  the  farmer  will 
be  a  most  important  factor  in  the  impending  crisis. 

At  present  there  are  34,000,000  people  living  on  farms. 
This  is  by  far  the  largest  of  any  one  industrial  class,  and 
comprises  nearly  one-half  the  population.  Very  little  at- 
tention has  been  paid  to  the  farmer  class  heretofore,  be- 
cause it  has  always  been  the  great  conservative  and 
steady  class  of  America.    But  it  is  certainly  very  evident 


286  THE  FARMER. 

that  this  large  number  of  people  could  make  themselves 
heard  if  they  chose  to  do  so.  This  they  will  do,  as  will  be 
shown  a  little  later. 

Land  will  cut  an  important  figure,  not  only  because  it  is 
everything  to  the  farmer,  but  because  it  is  almost  as  im- 
portant to  the  rest  of  the  people,  no  matter  where  they 
live. 

Now,  it  may  not  be  generally  known  that  land  was  not 
always  private  property.  Rut  such  is  a  fact.  The  private 
ownership  of  land  came  into  use  after  feudalism. 

To  better  understand  the  interesting  situation,  a  brief 
historical  review  of  a  few  facts  may  not  come  amiss. 

To  begin  with,  land  was  first  siezed  by  conquering  kings, 
after  which  it  belonged  to  the  throne.  Rut  it  was  never 
sold  to  the  subjects.    It  was  let  out  for  use  only. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  came  the  Europe  of 
the  middle  ages.  Serfdom  was  instituted  and  it  took  the 
place  of  slavery.  This  was  some  steps  in  advance  of  slav- 
ery and  it  flourished. 

Under  it,  the  lords  compelled  the  serfs  to  perform  cer- 
tain duties  for  them,  called  week  work  and  boon  work. 
The  week  work  meant  several  days'  work  a  week  for  the 
lord  without  pay;  and  the  boon  work,  extra  work  at  special 
seasons  for  the  whole  family.  The  balance  of  the  time  he 
might  work  for  himself  or  for  others.  In  addition  the 
serf  usually  gave  his  master  small  dues  in  quarterly  pay- 
ments of  money,  a  certain  number  of  bushels  of  oats  (of 
his  own  crops)  and  different  kinds  of  service. 


THE  FARMER. 

This  was  the  way  the  lords  of  the  land  were  firs!  i 
ated.  They  were  called  landlords  because  they  could  take 
the  rent  or  surplus  earnings  away  from  their  tenants. 
The  slave  owner,  the  feudal  lord  and  the  landlord  had 
each  the  same  object  in  view.  They  took  all  but  enough 
for  the  serf  to  live  upon.  While  their  methods  might 
differ  some,  the  results  were  the  same. 

This  aristocracy  of  the  land  controlled  the  law-making 
power,  of  course.  They  soon  passed  laws  thai  the  lands 
should  remain  in  their  families.  And  here  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  private  ownership  of  land. 

"With  the  passing  of  feudalism,  the  land  owners  freed 
themselves  from  the  feudal  dues  which  formerly  went  in 
the  king.  Then  they  became  bolder  and  laid  claim  to  the 
common  lands,  which  formerly  furnished  the  serfs  with 
pasturage,  fire  wood,  etc.  Thus,  by  these  repeated  thefts, 
were  the  rights  of  the  people  disregarded;  they  were 
brushed  aside  and  hardships  imposed  until  intense  hatred 
was  engendered  in  their  bosoms. 

Of  the  efforts  of  the  nobles  to  appropriate  the  old  ••com- 
mon lands,"  Mr.  Harold  Cox,  in  his  book  on  "Land 
Nationalization/'  page  :28,  says:  "In  county  after  county 
the  peasantry  rose  against  these  encroachments.  .  .  . 
The  nobility  and  gentry  quickly  combined  for  common  de- 
fense; they  sold  their  plate  and  jewelry,  armed  their  re- 
tainers, and  with  the  aid  of  German  and  Italian  mercen- 
aries suppressed  the  successive  uprisings.  The  peasantry 
were  thus  compelled,  by  the  unanswerable  argunn 


288  THE  FARMER. 

musketry  and  hangman's  rope,  to  Bubmil  to  the  loss  of 

common  rights  which  were  theirs  by  the  prescriptions  of 
centuries."  Page  after  page  of  quotations  from  history 
might  easily  be  given  showing  by  what  base  methods  th9 
nobles  acquired  the  titles  to  their  land.-,  and  how  they 
utterly  disregarded  the  welfare  of  the  common  people, 
blading  the  lives  of  multitudes  and  actually  killing  great 
numbers  of  them. 

Once  the  private  owner-hip  of  land  wa-  established,  it 
became  a  permanent  institution.  The  older  the  system 
grew,  the  less  it  was  questioned,  and  finally  it  was  looked 
upon  as  right.  The  words  of  Blackstone  and  oher  great 
men  made  but  little  impression;  and  yet  Blackstone's 
words  were,  and  are,  and  always  will  be,  the  truth: 

"The  earth  and  all  things  therein  are  the  general  prop- 
erty of  all  mankind  from  the  immediate  gift  of  the  Cre- 
ator. Thus  the  ground  was  in  common,  and  no  part  of  it 
was  permanent  property  of  any  man  in  particular.  Thus, 
also,  a  vine  or  other  tree  might  be  said  to  be  in  common, 
as  all  men  were  equally  entitled  to  its  produce;  and  yet 
any  private  individual  might  gain  the  sole  property  of  the 
fruit  which  he  had  gathered  for  his  own  repast. 

"BLACKSTOXE." 

The  question  now  arises,  why  was  the  system  of  the  pri- 
vate ownership  of  land  transplanted  to  America  ? 

Simply  because  at  first  there  was  an  abundance  of  land 
and  but  a  handful  of  people.    Then  the  land  question  was 


THE  FARMER. 

of  no  special  importance.    But  time  has  shown  the  mis- 
take,  and  time  will  make  it  plain  to  all. 

A  writer  in  The  American  Magazine  of  Civics,  Mr.  J.  A. 
Collins,  discusses  the  subject  of  the  Decadence  of  Amer- 
ican Home  Ownership,  in  the  light  of  the  last  census.  At 
the  outset  he  tells  us  to  be  prepared  for  startling  facts,  and 
for  threatening  and  dangerous  indications.  We  quote  as 
follows : 

"A  few  decades  ago  the  great  bulk  of  the  population  was 
made  up  of  home-owners,  and  their  homes  were  practically 
free  from  incumbrance ;  to-day  the  vast  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation are  tenants." 

Since  the  occupant  of  a  mortgaged  home  is  virtually  but 
a  tenant  of  the  mortgagee,  he  finds  84  per  cent  of  the  fam- 
ilies of  this  nation  virtually  tenants,  and  adds: 

"Think  of  this  startling  result  having  been  produced  in 
so  short  a  time,  with  the  vast  domain  of  free  lands  in  the 
West  open  to  settlers,  with  the  great  fields  of  industry 
open  and  offering  employment  at  good  pay;  and  then  con- 
sider what  is  to  be  the  result  with  the  great  West  all  oc- 
cupied, or  its  lands  all  monopolized,  a  population  increased 
by  the  addition  of  millions,  both  by  natural  increase  and 
by  immigration,  the  mineral  lands  and  mines  controlled 
by  syndicates  of  foreign  capital;  the  transportation  sys- 
tem controlled  in  the  interest  of  a  few  millionaire  own- 
ers; the  manufactures  operated  by  great  corporations  in 
their  own  interest;  with  the  public  lands  exhausted,  and 

(19) 


290  THE  FARMER. 

the  home  sites  monopolized  and  held  by  speculators  b 
yond  the  reach  of  the  industrial  m 

Less  than  one-fifth  of  the  American  people  have  a  clear 
title  to  a  home.    More  than  300,000,000  acres  of  land  are 

owned  by  foreign  and  domestic  capitalists ;  120, ,000 

this  is  rented ;  and  the  balance  is  owned  by  the  greai  rail- 
way corporations. 

Even  in  1889  State  Assessor  Wood  of  New  York  was 
quoted  as  follows:  "In  a  Uw  yeare  there  will  be  few  or 
none  but  tenemenl  farmers  in  this  state.  Year  by  year 
the  value  of  farm  land  depreciah 

It  is  a  fact   thai   no  nation  in  the  world,  save  Greal 
Britain,  shows  so  large  a  per  cenl   of  tenemenl   farm< 
as  the  United  States.     In  the  state  of  Nevada  three  m< 
practically  control  all  the  land  sutable   for  agricultural 
purposes,  bv  simply  controlling  the  irrigation  facilitii 
British  capitalist-  are  draining  120,000  acres  of  land  at 
Cape  Girardeau,  Mo.,  and  will  farm   it   under  the  mo?t 
scientific  system.     They  will  be  able  thus  to  produce  at 
one-third  the  cost  to  the  average  farmer. 

By  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Archbishop  Ire- 
land is  made  owner  of  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land  in  Min- 
nesota, and  according  to  dispatches  will  begin  ejection 
proceedings  against  the  families  who  have  settled  upon 
the  land,  in  order  to  make  an  honorable  living. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  Appeal  to  Reason: 

"A  piece  of  land  31x51  feet  in  Xew  York  City  was 
leased  the  other  day  for  twenty  year.-  at  an  annual  rental 


THE  FARMER.  291 

of  $40,000.  It  was  bought  a  short  time  ago  for  $100,000. 
This  $-10,000  a  year  is  added  to  the  cost  of  doing  busic 
bv  additions  to  the  cost  of  goods  and  the  public  pays  it. 
The  owner  does  nothing  for  society,  did  not  even  build  a 
shanty  on  it — the  lessee  having  to  do  that.  This  is  one  of 
the  ways  that  labor  is  robbed — but  so  cunningly  hid  that 
but  few  see  it.  Thousands  of  millions  annually  are  thus 
put  onto  the  working  classes  for  the  benefit  of  the  drones." 
The  following  arc  the  words  of  Dr.  McGlynn: 
"To  take  possession  of  these  natural  bounties,  to  mo- 
nopolize them  under  cover  of  law  and  custom,  and  to  make 
all  nun  who  would  use  them  pay  beforehand  for  the  privi- 
lege, have  been  the  aim  of  the  money-makers  since  time 
began.  It  is  an  easy  matter  to  run  up  a  fortune  of  one 
hundred  millions  when  you  can  tax  for  two  or  three 
decades  the  millions  who  must  buy  bread  and  meat,  timber 
and  coal,  cotton  and  wool,  which  all  come  from  the  land. 
This  is  what  has  been  done  directly  in  European  countries, 
where,  as  in  the  British  nation  and  in  Ireland,  millions  of 
acres  have  been  seized  by  the  few  under  cover  of  the  law, 
and  the  people  have  been  compelled  to  pay  first  for  per- 
mission to  get  at  the  land,  then  for  permission  to  con- 
tinue their  labor  on  it. 

-The  same  thing  happened  indirectly  in  this  country 
when  millions  of  acres  were  given  to  the  great  railroads, 
and  capitalists  were  permitted  to  get  hold  of  millions 
more  by  various  subterfuges,  all  to  be  held  with  a  tight 
grip  until  the  tide  of  immigration  had  swelled  these  prop- 


292  THE  PARMER 

erties  to  untold  values,  when  they  were  Bold  off  at  rate- 
that  made  millionaire-  ae  common  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe  as  knights  in  England.  The  readers  of  oewspapi 
are  well  acquainted  with  the  career  and  methods  of  the 
coal  harons  of  Pennsylvania  and  elsewhere,  who  got  hold 
of  the  great  coal-producing  districts  under  cover  of  law, 
and  for  fortv  years  have  levied  tribute  on  consumers  and 
miners  alike  by  every  device  that  human  ingenuity  could 
invent  without  regard  to  justiee.     .     .    . 

"Just  as  the  few  ge\  control,  almost  absolute  control,  of 
the  natural  bounties,  so  they  also  gel  control  of  the  means 
of  transportation  in  a  country.  What  this  mean-  is  bi 
comprehended  by  the  statement  thai  society  makes  no  ad- 
vance without  a  proper  exchange  of  commodities :  for  civil- 
ization to  improve  on  every  side,  men  must  have  the  great- 
est facilities  for  exchanging  the  work  of  their  hands.  .  . 
.  Ease  of  transportation  is,  therefore,  as  vitally  necessary 
to  the  laborer  as  ease  in  getting  at  the  natural  bounties; 
and  as  all  men  are  laborers  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
the  few  who  have  placed  themselves  in  charge  of  the 
transportation  facilities  of  a  nation  get  incredibly  rich  in 
the  briefest  time,  because  they  tax  more  thoroughly  and 
absolutely  every  human  being  in  their  jurisdiction  than 
does  the  government  itself. 

"The  Vanderbilts  are  worth  perhaps  a  third  of  a  billion 
to-day.  How  did  they  get  it  ?  By  hard  labor  ?  Xo.  By 
using  the  privileges  foolishly  granted  them  by  the  foolish 
people:  the  right  of  way  over  the  state  of  Xew  York;  the 


THE  FARMER. 

right  to  fix  what  rates  of  freight  and  passage  the  citizens 
of  the  community  must  pay  to  use  their  own  roads;  the 
right  to  hold  immense  domains  of  the  State  as  the  creation 
of  their  own  hands.  ...  No  individual  or  corpora- 
tion should  be  allowed  to  amass  billions  out  of  these  public 
properties.     .     .     ." 

Henry  George  says : 

"Since  man  can  only  live  on  land  and  from  land,  since 
land  is  the  reservoir  of  matter  and  force  from  which 
man's  body  itself  is  taken,  and  on  which  he  must  draw 
for  all  that  he  can  produce,  does  it  not  irresistibly  follow 
that  to  give  the  land  in  ownership  to  some  men  and  deny 
to  others  all  right  to  it  is  to  divide  mankind  into  the 
rich  and  the  poor,  the  privileged  and  the  helpless?  Does 
it  not  follow  that  those  who  have  no  rights  to  the  use  of 
land  can  live  only  by  selling  their  power  to  labor  to  those 
who  own  the  land  ? 

"Thus,  so  long  as  private  property  in  land  continues — 
so  long  as  some  men  are  treated  as  owners  of  the  earth 
and  other  men  can  live  on  it  only  by  their  sufferance — 
human  wisdom  can  devise  no  means  by  which  the  evils  of 
our  present  condition  may  be  avoided." 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  with  such  conditions  prevailing 
and  growing  worse  the  independence  of  the  farmer  is 
passing?  And,  further,  is  it  not  apparent  that  the  coun- 
try, instead  of  furnishing  a  haven  in  time  of  trouble,  will 
furnish  fuel  for  the  coming  conflagration  ?  And  is  it  not 
plain  that  the  farmer,  instead  of  being  the  staid,  conserva- 


294  THE  PARMER. 

tive  member  of  society,  lb  ripe  [or  any  radical  uprising? 

Information  from  every  available  source  shows  that  the 
condition  of  the  American  farmer  has  steadily  declined, 
until  today  the  income  per  capita  of  the  farming  popula- 
tion is  26c  per  day. 

In  addition  to  this,  he  is  not  nearly  as  independent  of 
society  now  as  he  used  to  be.  The  time  wras  when  he 
could  live  almost  apart  and  away  from  society  and  get 
along  nicelv.  Bui  that  is  all  goim.  "No  man  liveth  or 
dieth  to  himself/' applies  to  the  farmer  a-  well  as  to  every- 
body else  to-day.  Let  us  briefly  analyze  his  present  con- 
dition. 

Society  to-day  is  a  very  complex  organism.  With  all  of 
its  branches  of  work  divided  and  sub-divided,  its  mem- 
bers are  interdependent.  Formerly  the  farmer  was  not 
included  in  this.    To-day  he  is. 

Instead  of  the  farmer  producing  all  of  his  food  and 
clothing  on  the  farm,  and  himself  building  log  houses  and 
barns;  instead  of  doing  his  work  without  machinery;  in- 
stead of  supplying  all  of  his  needs  from  his  farm,  he  must 
now  go  to  society  for  a  thousand  things. 

He  can  no  longer  be  his  own  blacksmith,  butcher  and 
carpenter.  His  clothing,  stockings,  etc.,  are  no  longer 
produced  on  the  farm.  For  all  of  these  things  he  must  go 
to  society,  even  for  such  things  as  butter  and  cheese, 
which  to-day  come  from  the  factories. 

He,  like  everybody  else,  has  become  a  specialist.     He 


THE  FARMER. 

sticks  to  raising  one  or  two  things  only.    Hence  his  de- 
pendence on  society  for  all  of  his  other  necessities. 

Even  then  he  cannot  confine  himself  to  his  specialty 
without  society  helping  him  in  that. 

First,  he  must  have  the  railroad  to  carry  away  his  cropa 
and  bring  to  him  machinery,  tools,  supplies,  etc.  The 
elevator,  stock  yards,  and  telegraphs  play  an  important 
part  in  his  life. 

The  scythe,  pitchfork  and  hand  rake  have  given  place 
to  the  six-foot-cut  mower,  the  sulky  tedder  and  horsefork. 
The  windmill  has  taken  the  place  of  the  well,  and  the 
steam  thresher,  with  automatic  feeder  and  blow  stacker, 
does  in  an  hour  the  work  that  once  kept  the  flail  busy  for  a 
week. 

In  short,  the  tendency  toward  specialization  is  the  same 
on  the  farm  almost  as  in  the  factory,  and  has  the  same  ef- 
fect. Being,  then,  such  a  member  of  societj',  he  is  helped 
or  injured  by  everything  that  helps  or  injures  it.  Strikes 
and  panics  effect  him;  wars  and  rumors  of  war;  the  rains 
of  India,  and  the  floods  of  Russia;  all  play  upon  him.  II 
is  no  longer  far  removed  from  us;  he  is  one  of  us. 

But  he  is  still  a  serf  to  the  landlord,  the  trusts  and  big 
corporations.  Let  us  see.  First  of  all,  his  productive 
power  has  been  greatly  increased.  It  does  him  no  good. 
He  works  so  many  days  in  the  year  for  the  mortgager :  a 
certain  number  of  days  for  the  harvest  machine  manu- 
facturer, the  wire  and  twine  trust,  and  so  on  down  the 


398  THE  FARMER 

line.    The  time  he  hae  Left  is  bis  own,  winch  in  the 

case  of  the  serf  of  old,  a  bare  li\  ing. 
To-day  he  has  the  form  and  appeal  ming  the 

land,  but  in  reality  he  only  accumulat<  What 

he  really  owns  is  a  permanenl  ami  exhausting  y<\>  thai  m 
him  a  few  cents  per  day.     Mi-  work  is  like  the  Bweated 

trades  of  the  city  slum-,    h  is  work  done  at  home.    Him- 
self, wife,  sons  and  daughters  all  toil  laboriously,  from 
sunrise  to  sunset,  with  Imt  few  holiday-  and  little  recn 
tion. 

The  fanner  would  see  the  point  and  raise  a  greal  pro- 
test if  lie  were  asked  to  do  the  same  thin;:  on  one  of  the 
big  syndicate  or  bonanza  farm.-,  lint  now  he  congratulal 
himself  that  he  is  not  at  the  caprice  of  >um,.  employer  in  a 
factory  who  might  discharge  him  at  will.  In  the  mean- 
time his  wife  is  frequently  driven  insane  by  the  grinding 
toil,  as  statistics  show.  Mi-  children  also  must  often  stop 
school  to  help  in  the  field. 

There  was  a  time  long  ago  when  iln  farmer  knew  he 
was  a  serf,  and  did  not  pretend  to  be  free.  In  those  days 
he  worked  only  a  certain  number  of  days  for  himself,  and 
a  certain  number  for  his  lord.  But  to-day  some  think  he  is 
free  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  all  of  his  products,  almost, 
are  taken  from  him  by  our  modern  industrial  system,  that 
leaves  him  but  a  mere  pittance  for  himself.  He  is  almost 
a  serf  to-day,  under  different  condition-. 

In  the  olden  time  if  the  farmer  could  not  sell  his  prod- 
uct he  could  consume  it  himself.    To-dav  he  must  sell  it 


THE  FARMER. 

to  get  hold  of  money.  He  could  not  live  under  modem 
complex  conditions  without  money.  Thus  often  he  is 
forced  to  sell  at  the  lowest  prices.  Other  farmers  fare 
likewise.  Keen  competition  prevails.  This  competition 
is  further  increased  by  the  annihilation  of  distance,  as 
the  railroads  handling  products  from  far  and  near  bring 
him  in  competition  with  all  his  class. 

Almost  as  bad  off  as  the  factory  hand,  he  has  no  unions 
like  them  to  uphold  prices.  He  is  unorganized;  belongs 
to  no  trust,  and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  his  income  be- 
ing reduced  steadily  each  year. 

These  are  all  facts — serious  facts — that  must  be  dealt 
with  soberly.  No  light,  superficial  treatment  will  suffice. 
The  class  it  concerns  is  too  large;  the  people  that  com- 
prise it  too  honest  and  hardworking.  How  grating  on 
the  nerves,  then,  are  the  observations  of  some  of  our 
would-be  thinkers  and  leaders. 

While  attending  a  convocation  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church  in  Xew  York  City,  Bishop  Worthington's 
views  respecting  the  social  commotion  were  gleaned  by  a 
newspaper  man  and  published  broadcast  on  October  25, 
'9G.    He  is  reported  to  have  said: 

"The  trouble  with  the  farmer,  in  my  judgment,  is  that  we 
have  carried  our  free  educational  system  entirely  too  far. 
Of  course,  I  know  that  this  view  will  be  considered  as  a 
bit  of  heresy,  but  still  I  believe  it.  The  farmer's  sons— a 
great  many  of  them— who  have  absolutely  no  ability  to 
rise,  get  a  taste  of  education  and  follow  it  np.    They  will 


300  THE  FARMER 

never  amount  to  anything — thai  is,  many  of  them— and 
they  become  dissatisfied  to  follow  in  the  walk  of  life  that 
God  intended  they  should,  and  drift  into  the  cil  It  is 

the  over-education  of  those  who  arc  not  qualified  to  re- 
ceive it  thai  fills  our  cities  while  the  farms  lie  idh 
BON.  W.J.  BBYAN'S  REPLY, 

As  to  the  justice  of  the  Bishop's  suggestion,  we  leave  it 
for  .Mr.  \Y.  J.  Bryan  to  answer,  quoting  from  his  press- 
reported  reply  as  follow 

"To  talk  about  the  over-education  of  the  fan  -ons 

and  to  attribute  the  difficulties  which  surround  us  to-day 
to  over-education,  is,  to  my  mind,  one  of  the  most  cruel 
things  a  man  ever  uttered.  The  idea  of  saying  that  farm- 
ers' sons,  who  are  not  able  to  rifle  in  life,  get  a  taste  of 
education,  and  enjoy  the  taste  so  much  that  they  follow  it 
up  and  become  dissatisfied  with  the  farm  and  drift  into  the 
cities!  The  idea  of  saying  that  there  i-  over-education 
among  our  farmers*  son>!  My  friends,  do  you  know  what 
that  language  means  ?  It  means  a  reversal  of  the  progress 
of  civilization  and  a  march  toward  the  dark  ages  again. 

"How  can  you  tell  which  one  of  the  farmers'  sons  is 
going  to  prove  a  great  man  until  you  have  educated  them 
all  ?  Are  we  to  select  a  commission  to  go  around  and  pick 
out  the  ones  that  are  to  be  educated? 

"Ah,  my  friends,  there  is  another  reason  why  people 
have  gone  into  the  cities  and  left  the  farms.  It  is  because 
your  legislation  has  been  causing  the  foreclosure  of  mort- 
gages on  the  farmers  and  the  farms.    It  is  because  your 


THE  FARMER.  301 

legislation  has  been  making  the  farmer's  life  harder  for 
the  farmer;  it  is  because  the  non-producing  classes  have 
been  producing  the  laws  and  making  it  more  profitable  to 
gamble  in  farm  products  than  to  produce  them. 

"The  idea  of  laying  the  blame  of  the  present  condition 
at  the  farmer's  door !  The  idea  of  suggesting  as  a  remedy 
the  closing  of  schools  in  order  that  the  people  may  not  be- 
come dissatisfied !  Why,  my  friends,  there  will  be  dissatis- 
faction so  long  as  the  cause  for  dissatisfaction  exists.  In- 
stead of  attempting  to  prevent  people  realizing  their  con- 
dition, why  don't  these  critics  try  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  farmers  of  this  country  ?" 

The  Appeal  to  Eeason  says: 

"The  demand  for  servant  girls  in  the  cities  is  greater 
than  the  supply,  so  the  papers  state.  The  farmers  should 
send  their  daughters  to  the  cities  to  wait  on  the  drones. 
After  raising  the  food  of  the  world  to  feed  the  drones,  the 
farmers  should  train  their  girls  to  cook  for  them!  And 
make  their  clothes !  and  clean  their  houses !  That  is  the 
system.  The  number  of  people  who  are  getting  a  graft  on 
production  that  enables  them  to  charge  a  profit  on  tha 
farmers  and  workers  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  live  thus, 
increases  rapidly,  hence  the  scarcity  of  'servant  girls.'" 
'Servants'  is  the  same  term  applied  to  the  black  slaves. 
At  a  time  when  the  girls  and  boys  are  needed  at  home  to 
ease  down  the  life  of  the  father  and  mother  who  have 
raised  and  loved  and  suffered  for  them,  the  industrial  con- 
ditions are  made  so  hard  that  they  are  forced  to  go  out 


:;<)•.  THE  PARMER. 

'into  service'  for  the  fellows  who  have  been  charging  the 
parents  a  profit  on  what  they  had  to  buy  large  enough  to 
pay  their  sons  and  daughters  a   wage.     In   reality,  the 
parents  pay  the  wages  by  this  profit,  while  the  drom 
the  service.    Onlv  poverty  compels  the  girls  and  bo 
work  for  the  drom-.    Poverty  is  necessary  to  have  Bervii 
and  the  drones  Bee  thai  poverty  exists.    Otherwise  thi 
would  have  in  do  their  own  work." 

To  recapitulate,  then,  it  would  firsl  of  all  he  ou1  of  tin- 
question  for  the  mass  of  the  people  to  think  of  [feeing  to 
the  country  and  taking  up  fanning,  when  tin-  Lfivai  BOCial 
and  industrial  troubles  break  upon  Bociety.  And  Becond, 
we  may  look  for  disturbances  to  break  out  amongsl  tin- 
farming  population  at  any  time.  Tin-  landlord,  tin-  trust, 
competition,  and.  in  fact,  all  of  tin-  evil-  of  our  preseni  in- 
dustrial system,  have  been  at  work  and  have  changed  the 
farmer — the  once  sturdy  and  conservative  element  of  so- 
ciety— into  a  seething  and  discontented  class,  ready  to 
resort  to  any  and  everything  to  change  a  system  that  works 
so  many  wrongs  and  hardships  upon  them.  Such  items  a- 
the  following  have  opened  the  eyes  of  the  farmer  and  set 
him  to  thinking. 

A  recent  editorial  in  the  San  Francisco  Examiner  says : 
"Mr.  W.  K.  Yanderbilt's  huge  British  steam  yacht 
Valiante  has  joined  Mr.  F.  W.  Yanderbilt's  British  steam 
yacht  Conqueror  in  New  York  harbor.  The  Yaliante  cost 
$800,000.  This  represents  the  profits  on  a  crop  of  about 
15,000,000  bushels  of  sixty-cent  wheat,  or  the  entire  prod- 


THE  FARMER.  303 

uct  of  at  least  8,000  160-acre  farms.  In  other  words, 
8,000  farmers,  representing  40,000  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, worked  through  sun  and  storm  to  enable  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt  to  have  built  in  a  foreign  shipyard  such  a  pleasure 
craft  as  no  sovereign  in  Europe  possesses.  The  construc- 
tion of  that  vessel  required  the  labor  of  at  least  1,000  me- 
chanics for  a  year.  The  money  she  cost,  put  in  circulation 
among  our  workmen,  would  have  had  a  perceptible  in- 
fluence upon  the  state  of  times  in  some  quarters." 

The  present  tendency  of  things  indicates  that  the  time 
will  come  before  long  when  we  will  have  a  landlord  and 
a  landless  population  in  the  place  of  the  farmers.  But 
the  probabilities  are  that  before  the  culmination  of  such 
an  unhappy  condition  of  affairs,  society  will  be  in  the 
throes  of  a  deadly  revolution.  A  revolution  long  in  prepa- 
ration, and  slow  to  manifest  itself,  yet  none  the  less  ter- 
rible and  far-reaching  in  its  effects  when  once  precipi- 
tated. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 


PLUTOCRACY. 

Banks  and  the  Money  Power — What  Scarcity  of  Money 

Means — How  H  is  Manipulated  By  Wall  Street  and 

the  Banks— A  Villainous  System  Thai  Enslavi 

the  Industrie-  and  People  of  the  Country 

— Speculators;  Watered  Stock; 

Methods  of  Finance. 


The  great  revolution  will  be  preceded  and  precipitated 
by  a  money  panic.  After  a  general  survey  of  the  field, 
the  important  hearing  of  money,  the  money  power  and 
hanks  becomes  apparent.  Also  the  expediency  of  reserving 
the  discussion  of  these  factors  until  now. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  whole  financial  system  is  a  scarcity 
of  money.  There  is  not  nearly  enough  money  to  conduct 
the  business  of  the  country  on.  Money  in  a  verv  limited 
quantity  is  what  the  money-lenders  want,  and  is  the  chief 
characteristic  of  our  present  financial  system.  Were 
money  plentiful  their  occupation  would  lie  gone.  They 
see  that  it  is  kept  scarce.    It  is  estimated  that  the  volume 

(304) 


Plutocracy  Enthroned. 


PLUTOCRACY.  30? 

of  business  transacted  in  this  country  is  eight  times  as 
great  as  the  amount  of  money  in  circulation.  In  case  of 
panic,  each  dollar  is  wanted  eight  times  over  and  wanted 
badly.  The  money  lenders  deceive  the  public  in  every 
way.  They  -ay  money  is  sensitive;  capital  is  timid.  They 
say  any  tiling  but  that  money  is  scarce. 

The  fall  of  1902  saw  the  country  almost  thrown  into  a 
panic.  Large  crops  had  to  be  moved,  and  the  cry  was 
raised,  "there  is  not  enough  money."  For  a  few  days 
things  looked  serious  on  Wall  Street.  Toward  it  all  eyes 
were  turned.  Had  Wall  Street  succumbed  it  would  have 
been  felt  all  over  the  country. 

Trouble  was  averted  by  Rockefeller  and  Morgan  coming 
to  the  rescue.  They  bought  heavily,  kept  up  prices  and 
showed  by  their  ability  to  prevent  a  panic  that  they  also 
have  power  to  cause  one  if  they  so  choose. 

Mr.  Shaw,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  also  came  to 
the  rescue.  To  the  average  citizen  it  seems  strange  that 
the  government  would  let  the  banks  have  large  sums  of 
monev  without  interest,  but  when  the  citizen  comes  to 
the  bank  he  must  pay  interest  for  all  money  he  borrows. 
This  is  the  way  the  money  power  takes  care  of  itself. 

At  nearly  all  times  in  the  history  of  the  world  there  has 
be°n  a  money  power.  Reformation  has  taken  place  in 
everything  else  but  this.  Many  political  and  social  wrongs 
have  been  righted ;  slavery  and  much  oppression  abolished, 
but  the  money  power,  unmolested,  is  as  strong  to-day  as 
ever.    It  sits  enthroned  in  the  high  places.    At  its  dicta- 


308  PLUTOCRACY. 

tion  rulers  bend.  Its  mandates,  the  legislatures,  the 
judiciary  and  executive  authorities   of   the   governmenl 

obey.  Its  power  is  enormous.  It  controls  the  numerous 
class  that  are  borrowers  at  its  counters.  It  controls  and 
muzzles  the  press.  It  controls  a  large  and  influential  class 
of  salaried  officials,  clerk.-,  etc.,  all  of  whom  find  it  to  their 
interest  to  sanction  its  policy  or  remain  discreetly  -ilent. 
It  stops  at  nothing  to  attain  its  end.  When  better  means 
fail,  fraud  is  resorted  to  in  any  way.  shape  OT  form.  Some- 
times it  is  perpetrated  on  a  gigantic  scale.  The  first,  and 
one  of  the  greatest  frauds  ever  consumated  was  the  de- 
monetization of  silver  in  1873,  when  less  than  half  a  dozen 
Senators  and  Congressmen  were  aware  of  what  was  taking 
place. 

Though  the  remonetization  of  silver  at  present  might 
result  in  upsetting  things  and  producing  a  series  of  evil 
results,  the  fact  remains  that  a  most  heinous  crime  was 
perpetrated  against  the  people  when  it  was  demonetized, 
without  their  permission,  and  without  their  knowledge. 
We  give  the  opinion  of  different  Senators  and  Congress- 
men. 

Senator  Thurman  said: 

"When  the  bill  was  pending  in  the  Senate  we  thought  it 
was  simply  a  bill  to  reform  the  mint,  regulate  coinage  and 
fix  up  one  thing  and  another,  and  there  is  not  a  single 
man  in  the  Senate,  I  think,  unless  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee from  which  the  bill  came,  who  had  the  slightest 


PLUTOCRACY.  309 

idea  that  it  was  even  a  squint  toward  demonetization."— 
Congressional  Record,  volume  7,  part  2,  Forty-fifth  Con- 
gress, second  session,  page  1,064. 

Senator  Conkling  in  the  Senate,  on  March  30,  1876, 
during  the  remarks  of  Senator  Bogy  on  the  bill  (S.  263) 
To  Amend  the  Laws  Relating  to  Legal  Tender  of  Silver 
Coin,  in  surprise  inquired : 

"Will  the  Senator  allow  me  to  ask  him  or  some  other 
Senator  a  question  ?  Is  it  true  that  there  is  now  by  law  no 
American  dollar  ?  And,  if  so,  is  it  true  that  the  effect  of 
this  bill  is  to  make  half-dollars  and  quarter-dollars  the 
only  silver  coin  which  can  be  used  as  a  legal  tender?" 

Senator  Allison,  on  February  15,  1878,  said: 

"But  when  the  secret  history  of  this  bill  of  1873  comes 
to  be  told,  it  will  disclose  the  fact  that  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives intended  to  coin  both  gold  and  silver,  and  in- 
tended to  place  both  metals  upon  the  French  relation,  in- 
stead of  on  our  own,  which  was  the  true  scientific  position 
with  reference  to  this  subject  in  1873,  but  that  the  bill 
afterward  was  doctored." 

Hon.  William  D.  Kelley,  who  had  charge  of  the  bill,  in 
a  speech  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  March  9, 
1878,  said: 

"In  connection  with  the  charge  that  I  advocated  the  bill 
which  demonetized  the  standard  silver  dollar  I  say  that, 
though  the  chairman  of  the  committee  on  coinage,  I  was 
ignorant  of  the  fact  that  it  would  demonetize  the  silver 
dollar   from   our   system   of  coins,   as   were   those   dis- 


310  PLUTOCRACY. 

tirguished  Senators,  Messrs.  Blaine  and  Voorhees,  who 

were  then  members  of  the  House,  and  each  of  whom  a  few 
days  since  interrogated  the  other:  'Did  you  know  it  was 
dropped  when  the  bill  passed ?'  'No/  said  Mr.  Blaine,  'did 
you  ?'  'No,'  said  Mr.  Voorhees.  'I  do  not  think  that  there 
were  three  members  in  the  House  that  knew  it.' ' 

Again,  on  May  10,  1ST9,  Mr.  Kelley  said: 

"All  I  can  say  is  that  the  committee  on  coinage,  weights 
and  measures,  who  reported  the  original  bill,  were  faithful 
and  able,  and  scanned  the  provisions  closely;  that  as  then- 
organ  I  reported  it ;  that  it  contained  provision  for  both 
the  standard  silver  dollar  and  the  trade  dollar.  Never 
having  heard  until  a  long  time  after  its  enactment  into 
law  of  the  substitution  in  the  Senate  of  the  section  which 
dropped  the  standard  dollar,  I  profess  to  know  nothing  of 
its  history ;  but  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  in  all  the  legisla- 
tion of  this  country  there  is  no  mystery  equal  to  the  de- 
monetization of  the  standard  silver  dollar  of  the  United 
States.  I  have  never  found  a  man  who  could  tell  just 
how  it  came  about  or  why." 

Senator  Beck,  in  a  speech  before  the  Senate,  January 
10,  1878,  said: 

"It  (the  bill  demonetizing  silver)  never  was  understood 
by  either  House  of  Congress.  I  say  that  with  full  knowl- 
edge of  facts.  No  newspaper  reporter — and  they  are  the 
most  vigilant  men  I  ever  saw  in  obtaining  information — 
discovered  that  it  had  been  done." 

Mr.   Murat  Halstead,  editor  of  the   Cincinnati  Com- 


PLUTOCRACY.  :;i; 

mercial  Gazette,  is  one  of  the  able  men  of  to-day.     The 
following  from  his  pen  under  date  of  October  2  I.  L871 
quoted  from  the  New  York  Journal: 

"This,  the  British  gold  policy,  was  the  work  of  experts 
only.  Evasion  was  essential  to  success  in  it,  and  possibly 
because  coin  was  not  in  circulation,  and,  being  out  of  pub- 
lic view,  it  could  be  tampered  with  without  attracting  at- 
tention. The  monometallic  system  of  the  great  creditor 
nation  was  thus  imposed  upon  the  great  debtor  nation 
without  debate." 

The  following  words  are  publicly  credited  to  Col.  R.  G. 
Ingersoll : 

"I  do  ask  for  the  remonetization  of  silver.  Silver  was 
demonetized  by  fraud.  It  was  an  imposition  upon  every 
solvent  man,  a  fraud  upon  every  honest  debtor  in  the 
United  States.  It  assassinates  labor.  It  was  done  in  the 
interest  of  avarice  and  greed,  and  should  be  undone  by 
honest  men." 

That  the  effect  would  be  as  it  is  was  foretold  by  numer- 
ous statesmen  upon  the  floors  of  Congress  as  soon  as  the 
true  situation  was  realized — 1877  to  1880.  Some  were 
blind  to  the  issue,  and  some  were  quieted  by  self-inten 
and  some  relied  upon  the  advice  of  "financiers,"  but  others 
spoke  valiantly  against  the  wrong. 

The  late  Hon.  James  G.  Blaine  said  in  a  speech  before 
the  United  States  Senate  (1880): 

"I  believe  the  struggle  now  going  on  in  tin-  country  and 
in  other  countries  for  a  single  gold  standard  would,  if  sue- 


312  PLUTOCRACY. 

cessful,  produce  widespread  disaster  in  and  throughout  the 
commercial  world.    The  destruction  of  silver  as  money, 
and  the  establishment  of  gold  as  the  sole  unit  of  value, 
must  have  a  ruinous  effect  on  all  forms  of  property  except 
those  investments  which  yield  a  fixed  return  in  money. 
These  would  be  enormously  enhanced  in  value,  and  would 
gain  a  disproportionate  and  unfair  advantage  over  every 
other  species  of  property.    If,  as  the  most  reliable  sta- 
tistics affirm,  there  are  nearly  $7,000,000,000  of  coin  or 
bullion  in  the  world,  very  equally  divided  between  gold 
and  silver,  it  is  impossible  to  strike  silver  out  of  existence 
as  money  without  results  that  will  prove  distressing  to 
millions,  and  utterly  disastrous  to  tens  of  thousands.    I  be- 
lieve gold  and  silver  coin  to  be  the  money  of  the  constitu- 
tion; indeed,  the  money  of  the  American  people  anterior 
tc  the  constitution,  which  the  great  organic  law  recognized 
as  quite  independent  of  its  own  existence.    Xo  power  was 
conferred  on  Congress  to  declare  either  metal  should  not 
be  money;  Congress  has,  therefore,  in  my  judgment,  no 
power  to  demonetize  either.    If,  therefore,  silver  has  been 
demonetized,  I  am  in  favor  of  remonetizing  it.    If  its  coin- 
age has  been  prohibited,  I  am  in  favor  of  ordering  it  to  be 
resumed.    I  am  in  favor  of  having  it  enlarged." 

The  late  Senator  Vance  said  later: 

"The  power  of  money  and  its  allies  throughout  the 
world  have  entered  into  this  conspiracy  to  perpetrate  the 
greatest  crime  of  this  or  any  other  age,  to  overthrow  one- 
half  of  the  world's  money  and  thereby  double  their  own 


PLUTOCRACY.  313 

wealth  by  enhancing  the  value  of  the  other  half  which  is 
in  their  hands.  The  money  changers  are  polluting  the 
temple  of  our  liberties." 

The  United  States'  government  recently  sent  official  let- 
ters to  its  representatives  in  foreign  countries,  requesting 
reports  on  monetary  affairs.  The  report  of  Mr.  Currie, 
Minister  to  Belgium,  recently  published,  is  a  remarkable 
showing,  in  harmony  with  the  experiences  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  He  reports  the  following  reply  to 
his  questions  given  by  the  Hon.  Alfonso  Allard,  Belgian 
Director  of  Finance : 

"Since  1873  a  crisis,  consisting  in  a  fall  in  all  prices, 
exists  continually,  nor  does  it  appear  possible  to  arrest  its 
progress.  This  fall  in  prices,  reacting  on  wages,  is  now 
evolving  a  social  and  industrial  crisis. 

"You  ask  me  why  we  returned  in  1873  to  monometal- 
lism, limping  though  it  be.  I  can  conceive  no  other  rea- 
son, unless  that  it  was  to  please  a  certain  class  of  financiers 
who  profited  thereby— a  class  supported  by  theories  in- 
vented and  defended  at  that  time  by  some  political  econo- 
mists, notably  by  members  of  the  Institute  of  France. 

"You  ask  what  influence  these  monetary  measures  have 
had  in  Belgium  on  industry  and  wages?  Money,  which 
was  already  scarce  in  1873,  has  become  still  scarcer,  and 
that  fall  in  prices  which  was  predicted  has  taken  pi. 
The  average  fall  in  the  price  of  all  the  products  of  labor 
is  50  per  cent  since  1873— that  of  cereals  over  65  per  cent. 
Industry  is  no  longer  remunerative,  agriculture  is  ruined, 


314  PLUTO  CK  AC  Y. 

and  everybody  is  clamoring  for  protection  by  duties,  while 
"our  ruined  citizens  think  of  war.  Such  is  the  sad  condi- 
tion of  Europe." 

The  New  York  World,  under  date  of  September  24,  '96, 
publishes  the  following  words  of  Prince  Bismarck  to  Herr 
von  Kardorf,  leader  of  the  Free  Conservative  Party  in  the 
German  Eeichstag: 

"I  am  too  old  to  go  to  school  over  the  currency  issue, 
but  I  recognize  that,  although  I  acted  in  1873  on  what  I 
regarded  as  the  best  advice,  my  action  was  too  precipitate 
in  view  of  the  results  which  have  followed. 

"The  one  class  that  we  cannot  afford  to  estrange  is  the 
farming  class.  If  they  are  convinced,  and  they  assure  you 
they  are  convinced,  that  agricultural  depression  is  peculiar 
to  these  monetary  changes,  our  government  must  review 
its  position." 

Thus,  evidence  in  abundance,  and  from  all  sources, 
might  be  adduced  to  prove  that  fraud — stupendous  fraud 
— was  committed  in  1873,  when  silver  was  demonetized. 
And  though  it  may  be  proven  that  the  remonetization  of 
silver  would  bring  the  most  evil  results,  the  fraud  is  still 
a  fraud,  and  unjustifiable  from  any  standpoint. 

But  fraud  is  not  always  necessary  for  the  money  power 
to  attain  its  ends.  Frequently  laws  thai  favor  it  and  ope- 
rate against  the  people  arc  openly  passed,  and  with  very 
little  protest  from  any  source,  for  those  who  under- 
stand are  generally  in  a  position  to  be  benefited,  and  re- 
main silent,  while  the  greal  majority  who  are  being  in- 


PLUTOCRACY. 


jured  have  never  investigated   and  do  not   in  ml. 

Those  who  honestly  protest  are  in  the  minority.    Tie 
are  sometimes  silenced  by  being  called  calamity  howl 
yellow  journalists,  etc.    Then,  there  are  others  who  p 
ceive  and  understand  how  things  are  going,  but  fa 
way  of  making  themselves  heard. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  money  power  has  feathered  it 
with  surprising  audacity  and  impunity. 

The  chief  instrument  of  the  money  power — on.'  that 
tains  its  ends,  that  yields  it  golden  harvests,  thai  br 
ii:  enormous  incomes,  in  an  eminently  respectable  wa; 
the  bank. 

It  is  remarkable,  the  superstition  that   prevails  in  I 
gard  to  the  National  Banks.     Nothing  Beems  bo  i 
able,  safe  and  sound.     Many  are  laboring  under  the 
Insion  that  the  system  is  the  grandesl  ever  devised.  While 
this  delusion  prevails  at  present,  it  is  bring  dispelled,  and 
in  a  few  more  year-  enlightenment  on  the  subject  will  be 

general. 

I  wish  to  ask  just  one  question  to  prove  my  radical 

statements. 

If  security,  soundness  and  the  people's  welfare  w 
desired,  why  have  not  Postal  Savings  Bank*  been  adopt 

In  England  these  institutions  were  established  in  L8I 
in  Canada  in   1868;  in  Austria-Hungary   in    i 
have  also  been  established  in   Fran  gium,  Nether- 

lands, Denmark,  Germany,  Etaly,   Norway,  Switzerland, 
Sweden,  India.  Ceylon,  Finland,  Japan,  A 


31C  PLUTOCRACY 

tralia,  New  Zealand,  Hawaii  and  Trinidad.  Postal  savings 
banks  have  been  adopted  by  almosl  every  civilized  nation 
in  the  world  excepl  the  Onited  Stat. 

Why  should  we  not  haVethem?  Dr.  C.  P.  Taylor  states 
in  The  Medical  World  thai  he  has  corresponded  with  ;i 
large  number  of  Congressmen  on  the  subject,  and  in  reply 
to  this  question,  YV.  YV.  Bower,  member  of  Congress  from 
San  Diego,  Calif.,  sent  a  copy  of  his  "Postal  Savings  Bill," 
which  has  been  pending  in  Congress  for  years,  and  write 
"Bankers  and  money  shark-  do  not  want  any  postal  -av- 
ing  system.    That  is  the  answer  to  your  'why  not  T  ' 

Just  think!  A  score  of  countries  have  government  banks, 
which  are  absolutely  safe,  sound  and  secure.  The  United 
States  is  a  conspicuous  exception.  Why  is  this?  Bank,  i- 
and  money  sharks  do  not  wain  it.  Of  course  not.  No 
matter  how  secure  these  United  States  Banks  would  be, 
the  money  power  wishes  to  reserve  this  business  for  them- 
selves. The  money  power  is  stronger  in  the  United  States 
than  anywhere  else.  Were  the  government  to  engage  in 
the  banking  business  they  would  be  crowded  out.  Their 
golden  harvests  would  be  reaped  by  the  government,  which 
is  the  people  themselves.  The  stream  of  wealth  flowing 
into  their  pockets  would  cease.  That  is  why  we  have  pri- 
vate and  National,  instead  of  strong  government  banks. 

Freedom  says: 

"Under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  it  is  the 
sovereign  function  of  Congress  to  supply  the  nation  with 
money.    The  function  of  supplying  money  ever  since  gov- 


PLUTOCRACY.  317 

ernments  were  first  established  has  been  always  regarded 
as  a  sovereign  function,  i.  e.,  a  function  belonging  exclu- 
sively to  the  sovereign  power,  to  the  government  itself. 
Congress  in  the  very  beginning  of  our  government  exer- 
cised this  sovereign  function,  one,  the  exercise  of  which, 
more  than  any  other,  directly  touches  every  individual  in 
the  nation,  for  the  reason  that  in  civilized  society  money  is 
an  absolute  necessity.  In  a  civilized  state,  the  demand  for 
any  product  or  commodity  or  service,  whether  it  be  the 
simplest  necessity  or  the  greatest  luxury,  expresses  itself 
in  the  shape  of  money,  civilization's  sole* purchasing  agent. 
It  is  only  the  beggar  that  makes  a  demand  directly  for 
food  or  clothing.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  is  said  'The 
demand  for  money  is  equivalent  to  the  sum  of  demands  for 
all  things  whatsoever' — money  being  the  instrumentality 
through  which  the  wants  of  man  are  satisfied. 

"In  1863,  under  the  influence  of  the  bankers,  brokers 
any  money  lending  classes,  who  alone  could  be  benefited  by 
the  scheme,  and  without  any  demand  having  been  made 
therefor  by  the  people  who  have  for  35  years  been  the  vic- 
tims of  that  evil  legislation,  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  enacted  the  national  banking  law  yet  in  force.  The 
National  Banks  under  this  law  were  permitted  to  use  their 
capital  in  buying  securities  and  then  depositing  the  se- 
curities with  the  United  States  government  (just  as  some 
years  ago  the  Farmers'  Alliance  asked  permission  to  do) 
and  then  to  issue  their  own  promissory  notes  (payable  on 
demand  only  at  the  bank  issuing  them)  to  the  extent  of  90 


318  PLUTOCRACY. 

per  cent  of  the  face  value  of  the  securities  so  deposited. 
These  securities  were  bonds  bearing  interesl  al  6  per  cenl 
in  gold.  Congress  made  these  notes  receivable  as  money, 
in  effect  indorsing  the  ootes  of  the  bank  and  causing  them 
to  pas?  as  money.  On  the  bonds  deposited  as  securities  for 
the  notes  the  bankers  gol  the  interest,  which  was  payable 
every  six  months,  and  they  loaned  their  own  promissory 
notes  out  to  the  people  as  money  and  drew  a  heavy  interesl 
upon  them,  thus  also  getting  interest  on  what  they,  tin- 
banks,  owed. 

"In  effect  the  banks  got  two  interests  on  their  capital, 

one  on  their  bond-  and  one  on  their  own  note-  loaned  out 
to  the  people.  Congress  could  as  well  have  issued  paper 
money  (as  it  had  previously  done)  as  to  have  tanned  out 
that  sovereign  privilege  to  the  money  tenders  who  organ- 
ized the  banks,  and  thus  have  saved  the  people  more  than 
$1,000,000,000  that  would  have  been  left  with  the  people 
instead  of  having  been  paid  over  to  the  'rielf  few.  who  now 
substantially  own  the  property  of  the  country. 

"Congress  could  as  well,  as  fairly  and  as  reasonably  have 
turned  over  to  other  corporations  the  sovereign  functions 
of  levying  taxes,  raising  armies,  borrowing  money  on  the 
credit  of  the  United  States,  passing  bankrupt  laws,  declar- 
ing war,  establishing  courts  or  exercising  any  other  sov- 
ereign function  of  government  as  to  turn  over  to  the  Na- 
tional Banking  corporations,  as  it  did,  the  sovereign  func- 
tion of  furnishing  the  currency  with  which  the  American 


PLUTOCRACY.  319 

people  have  been  compelled  for  35  years  to  transact  their 
business." 

This  is  characteristic  of  the  money  power;  to  compel 
the  government  to  turn  over  the  sovereign  function  rf 
issuing  money  to  them;  and  characteristic  of  the  people 
also  is  their  dullness  in  perceiving  the  iniquity  of  it  all. 
No  wonder  they  grow  richer.  No  wonder  their  fortunes 
are  figured  in  fabulous  numbers. 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  says : 

"The  First  National  Bank  of  New  York  City  pays  50 
per  cent  a  year  on  its  capital  stock  besides  princely  salaries 
for  its  officers.  How  would  farmers  like  such  a  return 
after  drawing  $50,000  a  year  for  superintendence  and  the 
pay  of  all  the  people  who  did  the  work  on  the  farm?  But 
are  they  not  more  benefit  to  the  nation  than  mere  money 
changers?  Yes,  the  country  is  exceeding  prosperous! 
For  the  bankers.  The  farmers  are  no  part  of  the  country 
and  hence  are  not  considered." 

Again,  this  paper  prints  the  following: 

"Please  explain  how  the  government  has  printed  and 
given  to  the  banks  $349,856,276  in  bank  notes  without  any 
benefit  or  equivalent. — A  Reader. 

"That  was  the  amount  of  the  bank  notes  in  circulation 
reported  by  the  United  States  treasury  department  on 
January  1.  This  amount  was  printed  by  the  government 
and  given  to  the  banks  for  their  use.  They  deposited 
bonds  to  secure  the  notes,  but  the  government  paid  the 
same  interest  on  the  notes  as  if  they  had  not  been  de- 


330  PLUTOCRACY. 

posited.  The  governmenl  gol  no  return  Eor  the  use  of 
these  notes.  It  taxes  the  banks  enough  to  pay  for  the 
printing  and  care  of  the  notes,  thus  saving  the  bank  the 
expense  and  trouble  of  such  printing  and  care.  Bui  no 
BENEFIT  to  the  governmenl  was  received.  It  i-  strange 
that  the  people  are  so  innocent  of  the  character  of  the 
national  banking  schemi — a  scheme  pure  and  Bimple  to 
give  one  set  of  citizens  money  free  while  the  others  who 
furnish  the  money  have  to  pay  Eor  it-  use.  There  is  no 
reason  why  the  governmenl  should  not  print  and  ng< 
money  instead  of  printing  and  gh  ing  it  to  the  hank-.  If  its 
money  is  good  in  the  hands  of  bankers  it  is  good  in  the 
hands  of  the  government.  It  Beems  to  me  that  a  child 
should  he  able  to  see  the  cheat — hut  the  politicians  are 
controlled  by  the  hankers  and  their  friends  and  make  law; 
for  their  friends  instead  of  the  public.  Why  should  the 
government  give  the  hanks  the  face  of  their  bonds  in  bank 
notes  and  still  pay  the  banks  the  interest  on  the  bonds? 
Would  you  give  a  man  who  held  your  note  the  money  for 
the  note  and  then  jjay  him  interest  on  the  note  also?  But 
that  is  just  what  the  government  (of,  by  and  for  bankers) 
does  to  bond  holders— IF  THEY  ARE  NATIONAL 
BAXKERS.  Write  your  member  of  Congress  for  a  copy 
of  the  banking  law  and  study  up.  It  will  be  worth  the 
mental  cost." 

"Will  you  tell  us  whether  or  not  somebody  isn't  paying 
interest  on  all  National  Bank  notes  in  circulation  ?  If  not, 
why  are  they  in  circulation  ?— G.  B.  Hoitt.  Exeter.  X.  H. 


PLUTOCRACY. 

"Guess  somebody  must  be  cinched  for  the  per  cent.  I 
never  knew  of  banks  giving  away  the  notes  after  the  gov- 
ernment printed  and  placed  them  in  their  lilly  white 
hands.  That  is  their  business— loaning.  Xot  only  ar> 
they  drawing  interest  on  the  notes,  but  when  the  notes  are 
re-deposited  by  some  one  whom  the  borrower  has  paid,  the 
bank  loans  them  again  and  gets  another  interest.  THIS 
IS  DONE  AX  AVERAGE  OF  TEX  TIMES  FOR  EACH 
DOLLAR.    Ask  something  hard." 

In  regard  to  the  safety  of  these  institutions,  this  same 
paper  has  the  following  interesting  article: 

"The  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  Press  of  March  31,  calls  attention 
with  pride  to  the  fact  that  savings  bank  reports  show  that 
deposits-  are  $600,000,000  greater  than  all  the  monies  of 
every  kind  in  the  nation — that  if  the  depositors  of  savings 
banks  alone  were  to  withdraw  their  deposits  there  wouljd 
not  be  money  enough  in  the  nation  to  pay  them.  The 
Press  says  if  they  were  to  do  so  other  nations  would  sup- 
ply the  money  thus  withdrawn  so  that  business  would  go 
right  on.  Just  think  of  the  other  nations  sending  us  over 
their  pound,  shilling  and  pence;  their  peso,  crown,  franc, 
colon,  sucre,  piasters,  mark,  drachma,  gourde,  rupee,  lira, 
yen,  florin,  sol,  milres,  ruble,  etc?  What  a  nice  time  we 
would  have  doing  business  with  the  money  of  other  na- 
tions. One  nation  does  not  furnish  another  nation  money. 
Metal  passes  back  and  forth  between  nations,  but  it  is 
not  money  until  it  has  gone  through  the  mint  of  the  na- 
tion. But  what  strikes  me  most  in  the  matter  is,  that  all 
(21) 


322  PLUTOCRACY. 

the  money  in  the  cation  is  owned  by  savings  bank  de- 
positors, and  that  the  trusts  use  thai  money  to  organize 
trusts  and  monopolies  and  skin  the  very  people  wrhofurnish 
the  money  they  are  using!  II'  the  people  were  to  withdraw 
their  money  from  the  banks  every  monopolist  in  the  i 
lion  would  be  broken,  bui  the  people  would  aot  be  broki 
for  they  would  have  their  money  in  their  pa  ake 

advantage  of  the  greal  tumble  in  prices  that  would  occur. 
It  was  the  knowing  of  this  fad  thai  during  the  run  on 
some  Chicago  bank  two  years  ago,  the  late  P.  I>.  Armour 
stood  along  the  long  line  of  depositors  and  urged  them  to 
leave  their  money  in  hank,  offering  to  give  bis  personal 
curity  for  their  deposits.  If  the  depositors  had  all  de- 
manded their  money.  Armour  would  have  been  ruined, 
and  with  him  many  oilier.-,  whose  sole  hold  on  their 
wealth  is  the  fad  that  the  masses  stupidly  put  their  money 
in  hanks  for  these  gentlemen  to  manipulate.  But  some 
fine  morning  the  trusts  will  wake  up  and  find  that  the 
people  have  'lo>t  confidence,'  and  have  demanded  their 
money  and  there  will  he  no  loan-  for  their  manipulating 
the  market.  Keeping  the  massi  -  _norant  of  the  fact  that 
their  deposits  are  the  basis  of  every  speculation  and  ev< 
trust  and  monopoly  is  working  all  right  just  now.  'But 
you  can't  fool  all  the  people  all  the  time.'  " 

"The  banks  of  the  United  States  owe  their  depositors 
nearly  $9,000,000,000  and  have  less  than  $900,000,000  in 
cash !    There  are  only  $2,255,000,000  of  money  of  all  kinds 


Wi\y  are  v^)e  not  given  Postal  Savings  Banks? 

Tl\ir\K  it  over. 


PLUTOCRACY.  325 

ic  this  nation.    Well,  maybe  there  will  not  be  a  harvest,  by 
and  by!" 

"Preston,  Wis.,  is  a  town  whose  citizens  would  resent 
the  statement  that  their  place  lacked  in  civilization,  and 
would  point  with  pride  to  the  handsome  building  next 
door  to  a  modest  hotel  on  which  'BANK'  stood  out  in  bold 
relief.  The  bank  was  the  only  thing  that  prevented  the 
burglar  from  breaking  in  and  taking  the  hard  earnings  of 
a  life  time,  and  the  young  and  old,  man  and  maid,  hurried 
tc  its  iron  box  to  deposit  in  safety  their  daily  gatherings 
of  nickels.  It  was  run  by  the  eminently  respectable  class, 
the  pillars  of  society  and  church,  who  alone  prevented  the 
social  structure  from  turning  back  to  barbarism.  The 
credulous  had  deposited  about  $200,000  with  this  safe 
institution,  and  when  the  pie  was  opened  the  other  day 
there  was  $75  in  money  and  $250  in  notes  in  the  bank. 
The  balance  had  been — not  stolen,  my  dear,  not  stolen; 
that  would  be  harsh — but  had  been  financed  out  of  sight 
by  cashier  Todd.  It  is  only  one  of  thousands  that  have 
occurred  and  will  continue  to  occur  under  the  system  of 
private  or  so-called  national  banking.  Writing  up  this 
incident  in  the  course  of  our  national  prosperity,  the  St. 
Paul  Dispatch  runs  the  following  headlines,  which  tell  the 
tale  in  a  nut  shell.  You  keep  your  money  in  one  of  these 
safe  banks,  eh  ?  Had  the  losers  read  and  heeded  the  Ap- 
peal they  would  not  now  be  mourning.  Government  banks 
would  be  too  paternalistic  for  you,  eh  ?  Here  are  the  head- 
lines : 


326  PLUTOCRAt  V. 

•■  'Todd  Coni  rhal  B    i  :    R.  Clem- 

ent, of  La  <  Without  Consideration  ia  I'. 

Greenleaf,  Once  Prominent  in  St.  Paul  -  and  Who 

Was  Left  $150,000  Upon  the  Death  ol  Hei   Husband,  1- 

PenniL Todd   Admits  Thai    H<    Has   Not    I 

Kept  a  Proper  Set  of  B  the  Bank— Admits  That 

II,.  Had  Practical  Control  of  the  Green]  e,  but 

Says  He  Does  Not  Know  Whi  ime  of  thi  rty— 

Widows,  Orphans  and  Farmers  are  the  Principal  Sufl 
the  B  Men   Havin  the  Institution     3 

Alone— He  Tears  a  Numb  His  1  to 

Hide  the  Identity  of  thi    I'  rson  or  Persons  Who  R< 
the  Cash— Miss  Laura  Rolfe  Loses  th( 
to  Attend  the  State  University — Farmers  I.  r  9 

High  Rate  of  Interest  A      I     ight — «  '     i.  ■ 

Prevent   Him  Going  to   Dying  Fathei  sid<  —  Harry 

HuniDi  Lost  Accumulations  for  an  Europ        Trip — M 
Diehred,  a  Very  Old  Lady,  Lot  .  a  Lit       Savings, 

&c.'  " 

The  marvel  is,  that  the  banks,  after  having  secured  the 
privilege  of  issuing  the  money  of  the  country,  do  not  dis- 
charge the  Eunction  with  extreme  care  and  caution  for 
fear  of  losing  it.  But  they  seem  to  have  no  such  fear:  not 
only  so,  for  instead  of  being  satisfied  as  things  are.  th 
do  everything  in  their  power  to  increase  the  burden  of 
debt.    This  can  be  proven. 

If  nobody  were  in  debt,  hankers  and  money  lenders 
would  have  to  go  out  of  business,  for  none  would  need  to 


PLUTOCRACY.  327 

borrow.  Therefore,  a  system  that  upholds  or  forces 
credits  is  necessary  to  their  existence.  Would  they  like  to 
everj  body  out  of  debt  ?  Not  for  an  instant.  They  want 
to  see  debt  increase.  And  they  work  to  attain  that  end. 
The  more  debt  increases,  the  more  their  business  flourish- 
es, and  the  greater  their  profits.  Let  us  see  how  they  pro- 
ceed to  increase  and  perpetuate  debt. 

If  we  estimate  the  debts  of  the  country  at  $40,000,000,- 
000  (which  would  probably  under,  rather  than  over  state, 
the  amount),  and  the  population  at  70,000,000,  it  would 
make  the  debt  $5"J  1  for  each  individual;  or  estimating  five 
to  a  family  (i.  e.,  a  man,  his  wife  and  three  children),  it 
would  make  the  debt  already  loaded  onto  each  active  man, 
even  the  poorest,  amount  to  $2,855.  Every  child  in  the 
country  is  born  with  a  heavy  mortgage  on  it. 

A  perpetual  bonded  debi  has  been  saddled  on  the  people. 
Repeated  concessions  to  banking  interests;  the  various  so- 
called  refunding  acts,  which  have  each  time  so  changed 
the  terms,  that  no  progress  is  made  in  wiping  out  debts; 
the  donation  by  Congress  of  public  lands  and  guaranteed 
railroad  bonds  to  build  railroads;  and  finally  the  watering 
of  stocks,  are  some  of  the  different  methods  used  to  in- 
crease and  perpetuate  debt. 

The  last-named  meuiod  is  the  most  simple  and  the  one 
the  public  know  most  about.  Everybody  knows  to-day 
that  stocks  are  watered  to  the  limit.  And  everybody  ex- 
pects that  when  the  inflation  reaches  a  certain  mark  a 


PL1  TOCRA(  1 

collapse  will  ensue.    At  tima  these  colli  ill  In 

panic 

The.  elder  Vanderbill  aln 
pen  issued  million-  of  dollaw  of  i  I  railroad 

doing  he,  in  effect,  created  an  enormous  n  nd 

placed  it  on  the  industry  of  the  i  ountry.   The  actual 
ere  haw  been  toiling  IJ  the  int. 

immense  Bum.    The  people  srho  at  \  I  hold  I 

curities"  Bimply  "fleece"  labor  y< 
they  receivei    Did  Vanderbill  "rob"  indus 
tenl ':  How  long  will  tin-  people  continue  to  patiently  carry 
the  load  thus  unjustly  imposed  upon  then 

The  Bame  line  of  reasoning  can  of  i  be  applied  to 

other  similarly  acquired  fortuni 

Beyond  the  collapses  and  i»;i  w  realize  th< 

significance  and  depth  of  the*  as.    But  listen!    i 

not  the  debtor  a  >la\c  to  the  creditor?     Ha-  il 
that  way  in  all  ages  of  the  world?    A- 
enabled  to  squeeze  out  of  the  debtors  a  la' 
hard  earnings?    Docs  it  make  any  difference  under  wl 
name  the  process  goe- ?     I-  not  the  }»rin<  i]>K-  the  -a: 
even  though  it  be  called  rent,  interest,  advanced  prices  for 
certain  commodities,  or  profits,  etc.? 

Dr.  McGlynn,  touching  on  this  point.  Bays : 

"Here  again  the  world  seem?  to  be  all  at  sea  as  to  the 
elementary  principles  of  this  problem ;  the  money-lend 
alone  have  fixed  and  profitable  principles,  which  enable 
them  to  tax  every  human  being  who  uses  money,  for  the 


PLUTOCRACY.  329 

use  and  for  the  continuance  of  the  favor  to  use  it.  They 
have  placed  themselves  between  men  and  the  medium  of 
exchange,  just  as  others  have  placed  themselves  between 
men  and  the  natural  bounties,  between  men  and  the  facili- 
ties of  transporting  goods  to  market.  How  can  they  help 
getting  millions  together  as  the  Eothschilds  have  done; 
million.-,  again,  that  should  be  in  greater  part  passing  into 
the  treasury  of  the  community." 

John  Clark  Ridpath,  the  historian,  has  proven  that  our 
present  national  debt  represents  more  wealth  than  did  our 
entire  national  debt  of  3000  million  dollars  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  thirty  year-  ago.    These  are  Mr.  Eidpath's  words: 

"For  thirty  years  the  American  people  have  been  paying 
into  that  horrible  maelstrom  the  volume  of  their  great  re- 
BOnrces.  They  have  paid  on  their  debt,  or  at  least  they 
have  paid,  in  this  long  period  such  a  prodigious  sum  that 
arithmetic  can  hardly  express  it.  The  imagination  cannot 
embrace  it  and  yet  it  is  the  truth  of  the  living  God  that 
in  the  year  1896  the  national  debt  of  the  United  States 
will  purchase  as  its  equivalent  in  value  as  much  of  the  av- 
erage of  twenty-five  of  the  leading  commodities  of  the 
American  market,  including  real  estate  and  labor,  as  the 
same  debt  would  purchase  at  its  maximum  on  the  first  of 
March,  1866.  The  people  have  paid  and  paid  for  thirty 
y<  ars,  and  at  the  end  have  paid  just  this— NOTHING !" 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  a  Plutocracy  has  been 
built  up  right  in  our  midst,  and  that  the  people  have  been 
slow  to  waken  to  the  fact.    This  power  is  fast  gaining  con- 


330  PL1  TO(  RA(  Y. 

Mu|  of  the  government  and  i  hih   pi 

viding  for  itself. 

When  the  speculat  Wall  5 

money  in  banks  in  watered  si  ment  i 

to  tlic  rescue  and  deposit!  millions  of  public  fun 

in  the  banks  bo  th<  ' 

people  furnish  the  money  for  the 

with. 

Ever]  thing  possibl<    is  do  Bui 

hard  for  au  American  cil 

own  beloved  country.    Many  will  never  b<  con- 

vinced until  the  Republic  begins  to  topple,  and  Bom 
until  they  behold  the,  ruin-  of  the  the 

world  has  ever  produced. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


PANICS. 


Two  Kinds:  Financial  and  Industrial — First  Caused  By 

reify  of  Money,  Over-Speculation,  Watered  Stocks, 

Etc. — Second    Caused    By    Over-Production  or 

Under-Consumption — Latter  Not  Frequent, 

But  More  Serious. 

Why  Foreign  Markets  Will  Soon  Be  Gone,  Thus  Causing 

a  Glut  at  Home — Terrible  Industrial 

Panic  Inevitable. 


Panics  are  the  result  of  one  or  two  causes.  The  collapse 
of  speculative  values  and  inflated  stocks,  or  ovcr-pro- 
duction.  The  former,  generally  called  a  money  panic,  is 
of  frequent  occurrence,  and  is  generally  tided  over  in  a 
short  time  with  but  comparatively  serious  results.  The 
latter,  called  an  industrial  panic,  is  of  less  frequent  occur- 
rence, but  more  widespread  and  serious  in  its  results.  A 
monev  panic  may  not  be  serious  enough  to  affect  business 

(331) 


and  iinln  '         \"  ind 

by  a  lii  nic. 

'I'll. 

\aluet 

mere) 
to  burst.    All  pi 
Bui  an  industrial  ; 

■  \y:  I  In 
minim  P 

I ii~i.  ad  "t   !■ 
called,  it  i-  really  un 
warehousi 
and  Btan 
ine  «rar< ! 
Lei  us  i  samine  thi- 

Though  never  b 
productive  caps 

producer  i-  only  paid  ba<  k  fr<>m  .. 
of  what  he  prod  I  • 

keta  become  glutted  ?  to 

one-seventh  of  the  vast  produ 
goes  as  over-production;  it  ly  undi 

Given  such  conditi  the  ii 

de<  in  the  output  of  all  pro* 

being  im  demand  for  .  a  shut-down  <  in  the 

factories,  mines  and  .-hops,  and 
business  in  the  stores  and  traili: 

An  industrial  panic  is  the  blocking  of  t1  if  eom- 


PANICS.  333 

merce.  Even  in  times  of  peace  and  prosperity,  this  block- 
ade will  occur  every  time  the  warehouses  are  filled  and 
there  is  do  outlet,  because  the  consumers  haven't  the 
wherewith  to  buy  back  the  product. 

1  l  luree,  when  business  ceases,  wages  also  cease.  And 
when  \  curtailed  the  buying  power  of  the  con- 

sumer is  also  decreased,  and  the  panic  is  further  augment- 
ed. Well-chosen  is  the  name  panic.  It  describes  con- 
dition- perfectly.  Ii  is  as  though  the  populace  were  placed 
between  the  upper  and  lower  mill-stones,  for  a  glut  pro- 
duce- low  wages,  and  low  wages  increases  the  glut  by  re- 
ducing the  consuming  power. 

And  then,  in  addition,  work  being  scarce,  fierce  compe- 
tition between  the  wage  workers  ensues,  and  wages  are 
forced  to  a  -'ill  lower  point. 

It  i-  just  -udi  a  condition  of  affairs  that  will  precede  the 
ing   revolution.     Later,    I    shall  show   how  the  ex- 
plosion will  be  precipitated  by  a  panic;  how  a  financial  and 
industrial  panic  will  be  the  spark  to  touch  off  the  powder 
ae. 
;t  first  I  wi-h  to  consider  some  objections.    It  may  be 
ted  thai  if  industrial  panics  are  caused  by  a  glut  of 
the  market-,  then  by  finding  foreign  markets  and  export- 
ing th(  -production,  a  blockade  of  business  may  be 

averted. 

his  suggestion  is  well  made,  and  I  will  investigate  it 
[f  thi    \a-t  product     we     cannot    consume  be 
shipped  abroad,  then  a  panic  might  be  averted. 


We  will  find,  Hi 
England  is  and  hai  b 

i.    in  l  Euro] 

themselves  from  panic  bj 
Amerii 

\t\i  u.  find  thai  f< 
markets  have  1" 
i'  can  be  tmown  i1 
produce  for  then 
and  America  with  their  prodi 

Ami  last,  tli.  rwhelminj 

long  there  will  be  no  mo 
foreign  countries  will  produce  more  than  enough  for 

Ives,    [f  this  is  true  th< 
duction  and  panic.    And  as  rare  as  thi 
i;  will  be  the  match  thai  will 

train  of  expli 

Bui  to  prove  all  this. 

Many  think  England's  passion  for  territorial  conq 
is  merely  a  love  of  acn  >r  Empire  <\; 

sire  to  give  otheT  nations  wise  or  I  But  nol 

so.    Nations  are  conquen  re  their  trad' .     In  this 

England  has  been  -ful.  and  !  ilth  h. 

enormous.    The  first  nation  to  ha\  r-production,  - 

quickly  sought   foreign  market-.     Tl.       ' 
equally  as  cl<       .    stahlished  a  tariff  against  her.    Still  - 
disposed  of  her  product  the  world  over,  until  the  develop- 
ment of  machinery,  the  increase  of  inventions  and  the 


PANICS.  335 

spread  of  civilization  reduced  the  markets  of  the  world  for 
England. 

Not  many  years  ago  a  number  of  delegates  came  as  rep- 
ntatives  of  a  number  of  unemployed  shoemakers  to 
Lord  Chamberlain,  then  ( 'olonial  Secretary.  In  discussing 
the  situation  with  them,  he  said  in  part: 

-What  you  want  to  do  is  not  to  change  the  shop  in 
which  the  boots  arc  made,  hut  to  increase  the  demand  for 
-  i:  you  can  gel  some  new  demand  for  boots,  not 
only  those  who  are  now  working  but  those  out  of  employ- 
ment may  find  employment.  That  should  be  our  great 
object.  In  addition  to  the  special  point  before  me,  you 
most  remember  that,  -peaking  generally,  the  great  cure 
lliciilty  of  want  of  employment  is  to  find  new 
markets.  We  are  pressed  oui  of  the  old  markets  (out  of 
the  neutral  market-  which  used  to  be  supplied  by  Great 
tain)  by  foreign  competition.  At  the  same  time,  for- 
eign governments  absolutely  exclude  our  goods  from  their 
own  markets,  and  unless  we  can  increase  the  markets 
which  are  under  our  control,  or  find  new  ones,  this  ques- 
tion of  want  pf  employment,  already  a  very  serious  one, 
will  ;ic  of  the  greatest  possible  magnitude,  and  I 

see  the  gravest  reasons  for  anxiety  as  to  the  complications 
which  may  possibly  emue.  I  put  the  matter  before  you  in 
thee  ral  terms:  but  I  beg  you,  when  you  hear  crit- 

ms  upon  the  conduct  of  this  government  or  of  that,  of 
this  commander  or  of  that  commander,  in  expanding  the 
British  Empire,  I  beg  you  to  hear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  a 


RANK 

jingo  question,  which  lometi 

llrV, — it  ii  ii. ,1  .1  qui  stion  oi  iim 
i!  is  really  a  question  oi  continui 
English  people  hive  alwa 
keta  and  relations  with  bhe  uri 

unless  thai  is  'I i,  and  dom  : 

that,  grave  as  are  the  ei  \\-  now,  v 
time  t<>  inert  much  mori 

All  of  the  European  nati< 
upon  these  foreign  markets,  and  1 1  * ■ 

them  is  intense.     Bui  at  tln>  junctor* 

threatens  them  all.    China  and  Japan  a 

their  long  Bleep  ol  centui 

there  is  steam,  electricity,  machinery,  l»i- 

tal  has  begun  operations  in  tip  Ami  wh 

\w  remember  that  tin-  population  o 

that  oi  England,  ami  China's  five  timet 

the  United  States,  the  prosp  |uippin| 

labor  with  the  Latesl  machinery  i-  appallii  g.     For  th< 

people  air  ool  savages,  hut  civilized,  hard-worki] 

They  were  manufacturers  loi  _  English. 

We  find  that  capital  i-  being  in  heavily  in  ti: 

countries.  Alter  a  time  railroads  ami  manufacturing 
establishments  will  operate  a-  Bmoothly  there  as  in  Eng- 
land and  America. 

These   toiling,   patient,   submissive,   vet   energetic  and 
frugal  people  is  ju.-t  the  kind  of  labor  that  capital 


PANICS.  337 

mploy.    It  may  not  be  imported  to  our  countries,  but 
capital  may  be  easily  sent  to  theirs. 

The  rewards  of  capital  will  be  infinitely  greater  here, 
where  labor  can  be  had  for  from  6  cents  to  15  cents  per 
day,  (even  received  gratefully),  than  at  home. 

I-  i!  no!  plain  thai  the  foreign  markets  of  the  civilized 
world  will  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past? 

The  Emperor  of  Germany,  foreseeing  this  calamity,  had 
an  artist  paint  a  picture  representing  the  nations  of 
Europe  a-  female  figures,  clad  in  armor,  standing  in  the 
light  >hining  from  a  cross  in  the  skies  above  them.  They 
ail  appeared  t<>  be  looking  toward  the  angelic  figure  of 
Michael.  Approaching  them  was  an  immense  black  cloud, 
rising  from  China;  hideous  forms  and  faces  were  shown. 
Under  the  picture  appeared  the  words,  "Nations  of 
Europe!    .'..in  in  the  defense  of  your  Faith  and  Homes!" 

The  following  is  extracted  from  an  able  paper  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Imperial  Colonial  Institute  (English),  by 
Mr.  Whitehead,  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Council, 
bong  Kong,  China.  It  is  in  every  way  reliable.  He  says: 
-  Ear,  the  Chines'e  have  made  but  a  beginning  in 
the  construction  of  spinning  and  weaving  factories.  On 
the  river  Yang  Tsze  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Shanghai, 
some  live  mills  are  already  working,  and  others  are  in 
course  of  construction.  It  is  estimated  that  they  will  con- 
tain about  -?('»0,000  spindles;  and  some  of  them  have  com- 
I  w^k.  The  capital  employed  is  entirely  native, 
and  with  pea  stored  in  these  regions,  there  is,  with 


338  PANH  9. 

honest,  capable  management,  while  our  present  moi 
Bystem  continues,  really  do  limit  i<>  the  expansion  aud  de- 
velopment of  industries  in  <  hricntal  count  rii 

Mr.  Whitehead  discussi  -  the  recent  war  b<  I  l 

and  Japan,  and  declares  thai  in  it  lies  th<  lioj i 

china's  industrial  resurrection.    Be  continu 

"The  outcome  of  the  present  war  may  help  to  reli< 
the  Chinese  people  from  the  trammels  of  the  mandarins. 
China's  mineral  and  other  resource  known  to  be 

enormous,  and  at  the  verj  door  they  have  million 
oi  land  admirably  adapted  to  the  cultivatio 
which,  though  of  Bhort  Btaple,  is  suitable  for  mixing  \\ 
other  qualities.     In   the  Shanghai    River   in    Decemb 
1893,  there  were  at  one  time  do  less  than  five  ocean-j 
steamers  taking  in  cfl  of  China-grown   cotton   I 

transportation  to  Japan,  there  to  be  converted  1>\  Japan- 
ese mills  ami  Japanese  hands  into  yarn  and  cloth.  The 
Japanese  are  now  importing  for  their  mills  cotton  din 
from  America  and  elsewhere.  Alter  thi^  terrible  awaken- 
ing, should  China,  with  her  three  hundred  million  of  in- 
tensely industrious  people,  open  her  vast  inland  provim 
by  the  introduction  of  railway-,  her  interior  waterway-  to 
.-team  traffic  and  her  boundless      -  to  development, 

it  is  impossible  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  ccmsequen< 
Iv  would  mean  the  discovery  of  practically  a  new  hemi- 
sphere, thickly  populated     with     industrious   races,  and 
abounding  in  agricultural,  mineral  and  other  resourc<  - 
but  so  far  from  the  opening  of  China,  which  we  may  r< 


PAXICS.  339 

scnably  hope  will  be  one  of  the  results  of  the  present  war, 
being  a  benefit  to  English  manufacturers,  unless  some 
change  is  made,  and  that  soon,  in  our  monetary  standard, 
the  Celestial  Empire,  which  has  been  the  scene  of  so  many 
of  our  industrial  victories,  will  only  be  the  field  of  our 
greatest  defeat." 

Mr.  Lafcadio  Hearn  has  an  article  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  October.  '95.  He  was  for  several  years  a  teacher 
in  Japan,  and  gives  some  good  reasons  why  Japanese  com- 
petition will  be  sharp.     Mr.  Hearn  says,  in  part: 

'in  the  great  industrial  competition  of  the  world. 
fluidity  i>  the  secret  of  Japanese  strength.  The  worker 
shifts  his  habitation  without  a  regret  to  the  place  where 
he  i-  most  wanted.  The  factory  can  be  moved  at  a  week's 
notice,  the  artisan  at  half-a-day's.  There  are  no  impedi- 
menta to  transport,  there  is  practically  nothing  to  build, 
then-  is  ii"  expense  except  in  coppers  to  hinder  travel. 

"The  Japanese  man  of  the  people— the  skilled  laborer 
able  to  underbid  without  effort  any  Western  artisan  in  the 
-ante  line  of  industry— remains  happily  independent  of 
both  shoemaker  and  tailor.  His  feet  are  good  to  look  at, 
his  body  is  healthy  and  his  heart  is  free.  If  he  desire  to 
travel  a  thousand  miles,  he  can  get  ready  for  his  journey 
in  five  minutes.  His  whole  outfit  need  not  cost  seventy- 
five  cents;  and  all  his  baggage  can  be  put  into  a  handker- 
ehief.  On  ten  dollars  he  can  travel  a  year  without  work, 
or  he  can  travel  simply  on  his  ability  to  work,  or  he  can 
travel  as  a  pilgrim.    You  may  reply  that  any  savage  can 


M)  I'Wii 

.I-,  the  tame  thi         S     .  bul  i 

and  the  Japan 

I-  .1-1  a  thousand  yean.     Hi 

threaten  \\  estern  manufa 
1    mmenting  on  the  above,  tl 
'Thai  .-  .i  n  i ,  not  wortl 

frankly,  ai  w<    ban   alwa 

"•'"I"'"'1""  l«  a  \  le  thing,  which 

ma}  deeply  affecl  all  the  conditions  of  I 

trial  civilization." 
The  British  Trade  Journal  f< 

count  of  the  industi 

pondenl  of  the  Adelaide  (Australia    0 

respondent,  writing  directly  from  0 

with  the  variety  and  vitality  of  the  industries  of  tl, 

,ll:"  •»•  calls  it  "the  Ma...  0f  the  1 

"Some  ides  of  the  magnitude  of  the  manufacturing  in- 
dustry  of  Osaka  will  be  formed  when  it  is  k: 
«e  of  factories  with  a  capifc 

aml  «^er,  more  than  thirty  each  with  a  ca] 
100,000  yen,  four  with  more  than  L,00i 
with  8,000,000  yen.    These    include    Bilk,  a 
^mp,  jute,  spinning  and  weaving,  carpets,  mat 
leather,  glass,  bricks,  cement,  cutlery,  furniture,  umbr. 
!■*,  tea,  sugar,  iron,  copper,  brass,  sake,  brushi 

combs,  fancy  ware,  etc.     It   is,  in   fact,  a  greal  hi. 
activity  and  enterprise,  in  which  the  imitative  genius  and 
the  unflagging  pertinacity  of  the  Japanese  have  set  them- 


PANICS.  34l 

st  Ives  to  equal,  and,  if  possible,  excel,  the  workers  and 
artisans  of  the  old  civilized  nations  of  the  West. 

"There  are  ten  cotton  mills  running  at  Osaka,  the  com- 
bined capital  of  which  is  about  $9,000,000  in  gold,  all 
fitted  up  with  the  latest  machinery,  and  completely  lighted 
by  electricity.  They  are  all  under  Japanese  management, 
and,  it  is  said,  all  paying  handsome  dividends — some  a3 
much  as  eighteen  per  cent  on  the  invested  capital.  Out  of 
*1 '.1,000,000  worth  of  cotton  imported  into  Japan  in  1894, 
the  mills  of  Kobe  and  Osaka  took  and  worked  up  about 
seventy-nine  per  cent." 

A  silver  "yen"  is  now  worth  about  50  cents  in  gold. 

The  Hon.  P.  Porter  in  the  North  American  Keview  has 
an  interesting  article.    We  quote  him  in  part. 

The  Japanese  themselves  do  not  hesitate  to  boast  of 
their  approaching  triumph  in  the  "industrial  war."  Mr. 
Porter  says : 

•'When  in  Japan  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting,  among 
other  statesmen  and  officials,  Mr.  Kaneko,  Vice-Minister 
of  Agriculture  and  Commerce.  I  found  him  a  man  with 
intelligence  and  foresight,  and  of  wide  experience  in 
economical  and  statistical  matters.  Educated  in  one  of 
the  great  European  universities,  he  is  up  to  the  spirit  of 
the  age  in  all  that  relates  to  Japan  and  her  industrial  and 
commercial  future." 

Mr.  Kaneko  recently  made  a  speech  to  a  Chamber  of 

Commerce,  in  which  he  said: 

•The  cotton  spinners    of    Manchester  (England)  are 


342  PANK  - 

known   to  have  Baid   thai   while   the  Ai 
passed    i  hrough    i  hrei  i  at  ions    I"  fort1 

clever  and  apt  hands  for  the  Bpinninj 
ese  have  acquired  the  ill  in  l 

ten  years'  time,  and  hi  w  advanced  t 

they  surpass  the  Mancln  -  iple  in  skill."' 

A  dispatch  from  San  Frai  dated 

"M.  Oshima,  technical  d 
works  in  Japan,  and   foul 

the  steamer  Rio  dc  Janeiro  from  Yokohan 

a  tour  of  inspecl  ion  of  tl 

and  Europe,  and  are  commissioned  to  bu)  a  ; 

,000,000.    Tin  u  ill  buy  just  where  tin 

lniv  the  best  and  cheapest.    The  plant  is  to  1 
ity  of  100,000  tons.     It  will  be  built  in  tl 
Southern  Japan,  and  both  Martin  and  B  --■  mi  r  are 

to  be  manufactured. 

"Mr.  Oshima  said:    "We  want  to  put  our  nation  wh 
it  properly  belongs,  in  the  van.  as  a  manufacturing  nation. 
We  will  need  a  vast  amount  1  and  do  not  want  to 

depend  on  any  other  country  for  it.'  " 

Further  evidence  might  be  produced  in  abundance  to 
establish  the  position   taken,  that    when  the  next   panic 
from  over-production  coi     -  America  will  find  no  out] 
That  foreign  countries,  instead  of  being  markets,  have 
entered  the  competitive  field,  and  the  over-crowded  Arm 
ican  markets  will  remain  in  a  3tate  of  glut. 

The  desperate  efforts  of  capitalists  to  find  foreign  and 


PANICS.  343 

domestice  markets  will  be  more  desperate  than  ever,  and 
likewise  more  futile. 

How  many  people  stop  to  think  of  the  frenzied  efforts 
made  to  get  rid  of  product.  Advertising  is.  considered 
good  business  sense,  yet  in  the  long  run  it  is  a  waste  and 
loss  to  the  commonwealth.  It  only  gauges  the  desperate 
efforts  put  forth  to  get  rid  of  product. 

o.  P.  Eowell  &  Co.,  the  largest  advertising  firm  in  the 
world,  stated  recently  that  there  were  many  firms  in  New 
York  that  spent  $1,000,000  a  year  each  for  advertising.  A 
billion  dollars  ($1,000,000,000)  would  be  a  moderate  es- 
timate of  the  amount  so  spent  in  the  United  States  each 
\t  ar.    And  all  this  is  nearly  dead  loss  to  society. 

Then,  to  recapitulate.  In  two  ways  are  we  making  for 
the  next  panic. 

First,  by  wild  and  reckless  speculation — gambling,  in 
fact — in  the  inflation  of  stocks  and  bonds  to  greatly  cx- 
gerated  values,  and  by  keeping  the  volume  of  money 
down  to  the  lowe.-t  limit.  The  crash  that  follows  such 
j>  oceedings  sometimes  results  in  the  most  serious  of 
pani 

S  cond,  over-production,  or  uncler-consumption,  which 
i-  inevitable  under  a  system  that  only  enables  the  people 
to  buy  back  from  one-seventh  to  one-fifth  of  what  they 
produce.  This  latter  way  is  the  more  deadly.  It  is  more 
widespread  and  general,  because  the  people  cannot  buy 
back  the  vast  amount  of  goods  they  produce,  and  the  out- 
lel  io  foreign  countries  is  rapidly  being  cut  off. 


:ui  PANK 

Thf  inevitable  n-ult    followi  (hat     production  n 

And.  of  OOU  no  wager             wa^c* 

means  no  bread,   i  nf  thr>  r 

life,    In  i          ndition  I  think 
They  will  rev. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


FINIS. 

1    All  the  Elements  of  Destruction  Are  Being  Mixed 
Like  Deadly  Chemicals— How  and  When  the 
olution  Will  Be  Precipitated. 


A  dangerous  joke  is  sometimes  played  on  chemists  and 

A  prescription  is  sent  to  be  compounded, 

which  >r  a  number  of  ingredients  that  will  explode 

n  mixed  in  certain  proportions,  and  sometimes  the 

'    thoughtlessly  or  carelessly  falls  into  the  trap. 

Tak  irately,  these  ingredients  may  not  be  dangerous, 

but  to  mix,  pound  and  stir  them  up  may  develop  an  ir- 

T  our  Republic  is  in  danger.     On  all  sides  have 

rous  and  threatening  elements.    Their  power 

increased  many  fold  when  taken  together.    If 

1  by  one  or  two  evils,  it  may  put  down  and  survive 

them.    This  happened  when  slavery  was  abolished.    It  was 

nirt  and  overcome.    However,  now  the  Republic  is  assailed 

by  .1  of  dangers  from  all  sides.    And,  like  the  chemi- 

(345) 


346  F1N1 

calfl  thiil  explode  when  mixed,  th< 

will  fonn  such  as  overwhi  Iming  and  •■ 

Republic  will  not   b<  i 

briefly  taken  ap  and 

the  presenl  social  order.    « 

element,  and  imagine  the  ■  hol< 

Bame  time. 

The  Trusts,  which  al< 
Republic. 

The  Money  Powi  r,  I 

A   Plutocracy,   which   pro 
which  controls  legists  .  ihc 

Injunction. 

An  Aristocracy,  very  similar 

an  important  part  in  thi 
and  which  was  the  can 

The  new  factors  of  Machinery  and  Ti 

The  Fearful  Corruption,  in   I  -  ,nal 

government;  where  bribery  and  perjury 
how  public  morals  are  being  contaminal 

Legislation  for  the  Rich;  Child  and  Female  i 
Poverty  for  the  ma- 
Landlords  and  landless  farm. 

The  vast  army  of  the  Unemployed,  which  in  time 
panic  will  become  a  seething,  tumultuous  ma- 
All  of  these  evils  exist,  and  more  too.     Many  threaten- 
ing evils  have  not  been  touched. 


FINIS.  347 

We  might  say  all  of  these  deadly  factors  are  placed  in 
the  National  mortar,  ready  to  be  touched  off. 
THE  AMERICAN  CIRCUS. 

\Y.  R.  Andrews,  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  at  a  recent 
sjot  off  the  following  appeal  to  the  Filipinos: 

'You  Filipinos  don't  know  what  you  are  missing  by  not 
wauling  to  become  citizens  of  this  grand  country  of  ours. 
There  i-n"t  anything  like  it  under  the  sun.  You  ought  to 
Bend  a  delegation  over  to  sec  us — the  land  of  the  free — 
i  of  fine  churches  and  40,0(50  licensed  saloons;  Bibles, 
forta  and  guns,  houses  of  prostitution,  millionaires  and 
paupers j  theologians  and  thieves;  liberalists  and  liars; 
politicians  and  poverty:  Christians  and  chain  gangs; 
Bchools  and  scalawags;     trusts  and  tramps;  money  and 

ry:  ho s  and  hunger;  virtue  and  vice;  a  land  where 

you  can  gel  a  good  Bible  for  fifteen  cents  or  a  bad  drink  of 
whiskey  foT  five  cents;  where  we  have  a  man  in  Congress 
with  three  wives  and  a  lot  in  the  penitentiary  for  having 
two  wive-:  where  Borne  men  make  sausage  out  of  their 
wives  and  some  want  to  eat  them  raw;  where  we  make 
bologna  out  of  dogs,  canned  beef  out  of  horses  and  sick 
cows,  and  corpses  out  of  the  people  whoeat  it;  where  we 
put  a  man  in  jail  tor  not  having  the  means  of  support  and 
on  the  rock  pile  for  asking  for  a  job  of  work;  where  we 
license  bawdy  houses  and  fine  men  for  preaching  Christ  on 
the  streei  corners;  where  we  have  a  Congress  of  400  men 
to  make  laws  and  a  supreme  court  of  nine  men  to  set  them 
aside;  where  good  whiskey  makes  bad  men  and  bad  men 


348  FIX  IS. 

make  good  whiskey;  where  newspapers  arc  paid  for  sup- 
pressing the  truth  and  made  rich  for  teaching  a  lie;  where 
professors  draw  their  convictions  from  the  same  place  they 
do  their  salaries;  where  preachers  arc  paid  $25,000  a  year 
to  dodge  the  devil  and  tickle  the  cars  of  the -wealthy; 
where  business  consists  of  getting  hold  of  property  in  any 
way  that  won't  land  you  in  the  penitentiary;  where  trusts 
'hold  up'  and  poverty  'holds  down;'  where  men  vote  for 
what  they  do  not  want,  for  tear  they  won't  get  what  they 
do  want  by  voting  for  it;  where  'niggers'  can  vote  and  wo- 
men can't;  where  a  girl  who  goes  wrong  i-  made  an  outcast 
and  her  male  partner  flourishes  as  a  gentleman;  where 
women  wear  false  hair  and  men  'dock'  their  horses'  tails; 
where  the  political  wire-puller  has  displaced  the  patriotic 
statesman ;  where  men  vote  for  a  thing  one  day  and  'cuss' 
it  364  days;  where  we  have  prayers  on  the  floor  of  our 
National  Capitol  and  whiskey  in  the  cellar;  where  we 
spend  $500  to  bury  a  statesman  who  is  rich  and  $10  to  put 
awray  a  working  man  who  is  poor;  where  to  be  virtuous  is 
to  be  lonesome  and  to  be  honest  is  to  be  a  crank;  where  we 
sit  on  the  safety  valve  of  energy  and  pull  wide  open  the 
throttle  of  conscience;  where  gold  is  substance — the  one 
thing  sought  for;  where  we  pay  $15,000  for  a  dog  and 
fifteen  cents  a  dozen  to  a  poor  woman  for  making  shirts; 
where  we  teach  the  'untutored'  Indian  eternal  life  from 
the  Bible  and  kill  him  off  with  bad  whiskey;  where  we 
put  a  man  in  jail  for  stealing  a  loaf  of  bread  and  in  Con- 
gress for  stealing  a  railroad;  where  the  check  book  talks, 


FINIS. 

sin  walks  in  broad  day  light,  justice  is  asleep,  crime  run* 
amuck,  corruption  permeates  our  whole  social  and  politi- 
cal fabric,  and  the  devil  laughs  from  every  street  corner. 
Come  to  us,  Fillies!  We've  got  the  greatest  aggregation 
of  good  things  and  bad  things,  hot  things  and  cold  things, 
all  sizes,  varieties  and  colors,  ever  exhibited  under  one 
tent." 

A  horrible  indictment,  yet  who  can  say  it  is  overdrawn? 

The  Appeal  to  Reason  says: 

"The  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  the  state  that  issues  per- 
mits for  corporations  to  do  anything  they  like,  has  just 
signed  a  bill  that  was  passed  by  the  corporations'  repre- 
sentatives giving  the  courts  power  to  imprison  a  man  for 
any  speech  or  writing  which  the  court  may  not  like.  The 
constitution  don't  stand  in  the  way  of  liberty  of  speech  or 
press  in  New  Jersey,  and  both  will  become  a  thing  of  the 
past  in  a  few  years.  The  corporations  aie  in  the  saddle, 
and  the  working  people  are  being  ridden." 

Daniel  Webster  said:  "The  freest  government  cannot 
long  endure  when  the  tendency  of  the  law  is  to  create  a 
rapid  accumulation  of  property  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and 
render  the  masses  of  the  people  poor  and  dependent." 
The  very  thing  Webster  warned  us  against  has  been  strict- 
ly carried  out  until  we  now  have  on  the  one  hand  more 
than  4,000  millionaires  and  on  the  other  thousands  who 
are  losing  or  have  already  lost  their  homes,  and  other 
thousands  who  are  actually  destitute. 


350  FINIS. 

Up  to  date  it  is  estimated  that  there  are  about  4,000 
trusts  in  the  United  States. 

Col.  Robert  Ingersoll  in  The  Twentieth  Century  said : 

"It  is  impossible  for  a  man  with  a  good  heart  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  the  world  as  it  now  is.  No  man  can  truly  enjoy 
even  what  he  earns — what  he  knows  to  be  his  own — know- 
ing that  millions  of  his  fellow-men  are  in  misery  and  want. 
When  we  think  of  the  famished,  we  feel  that  it  is  almost 
heartless  to  eat.  To  meet  the  ragged  and  shivering  makes 
one  almost  ashamed  to  he-  well  dressed  and  warm — one 
feels  as  though  his  heart  were  as  cold  as  their  bodies. 

"Is  there  to  be  no  change  ?  Are  the"',  ws  of  supply  and 
demand,'  invention  and  science,  monopoly  and  compe- 
tition, capital  and  legislation,  always  to  be  the  enemies 
of  those  who  toil?  Will  the  workers  always  be  ignorant 
enough  and  stupid  enough  to  give  their  earnings  for  the 
useless  ?  Will  they  support  millions  of  soldiers  to  kill  the 
sons  of  other  workingmen?  Will  they  always  build  temples 
and  live  in  dens  and  huts  themselves  ?  Will  they  forever 
allow  parasites  and  vampires  to  live  upon  their  blood? 
Will  they  remain  the  slaves  of  the  beggars  they  support? 
•Will  honest  men  stop  taking  off  their  hats  to  successful 
fraud  ?  Will  industry,  in  the  presence  of  crowned  idleness, 
forever  fall  upon  its  knees?  Will  they  understand  that 
beggars  cannot  be  generous,  and  that  every  healthy  man 
must  earn  the  right  to  live  ?  Will  they  finally  say  that  the 
man  who  has  had  equal  privileges  with  all  others  has  no 
right  to  complain,  or  will  they  follow  the  example  set  by 


FINIS.  351 

their  oppressors  ?  Will  they  learn  that  force,  to  succeed, 
must  have  thought  behind  it,  and  that  anything  done  in 
order  that  it  may  endure  must  rest  upon  the  cornerstone 
of  justice  ?" 

A  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  once  made  this  state- 
ment; it  is  part  of  an  address  made  to  the  Alumni  of  the 
Law  Department  of  Yale  College.  Speaking  of  Labor  and 
Capital,  Judge  Brown  said : 

"The  conflict  between  them  has  been  going  on  and  in- 
creasing  in  bitterness  for  thousands  of  years,  and  a  settle- 
ment  seems  further  off  than  ever.  Compulsory  arbitration 
i]  a  misnomer — a  contradiction  in  terms.  One  might  as 
well  speak  of  an  amicable  murder  or  a  friendly  war.  It  in 
possible  that  a  compromise  may  finally  be  effected  upon 
the  basis  of  co-operation  or  profit-sharing,  under  which 
every  laborer  shall  become,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  capitalist. 
Perhaps,  with  superior  education,  wider  experience  and 
larger  intelligence,  the  laboring  man  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury may  attain  the  summit  of  his  ambition  in  his  ability 
to  command  the  entire  profits  of  his  toil." 

Another  writer  says: 

"Demagogues,  partisan  orators  and  editors  may  use 
sophistry  ever  so  thick,  but  they  cannot  cover  up  this  fact: 
The  laboring  masses  cannot  live  like  American  citizens 
ought  to  live,  and  educate  their  children,  when  they  re- 
ceive but  17  per  cent  of  what  they  actually  produce." 

Wendell  Phillips  expressed  his  opinion  as  follows: 

"No  reform,  moral  or  intellectual,  ever  came  from  the 


352  FINIS. 

upper  class  of  society.  Each  and  all  came  from  the  pro- 
test of  the  martyr  and  victim.  The  emancipation  of  the 
working  people  must  be  achieved  by  the  working  people 
themselves." 

These  are  the  words  of  Patrick  Henry: 

"Government  is,  or  ought  to  be,  instituted  for  the  com- 
mon benefit,,  protection  and  security  of  the  people,  nation 
or  community.  Of  all  the  various  modes  and  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, that  is  best  which  is  capable  of  producing  the 
greatest  degree  of  happiness,  and  is  most  effectually  se- 
cured against  the  danger  of  maladministration.  And 
whenever  any  government  shall  be  found  inadequate,  or 
contrary  to  these  purposes,  a  MAJORITY  OF  THE  COM- 
MUNITY HATH  AN  INALIENABLE,  AND  INDE- 
FEASIBLE EIGHT  TO  REFORM,  ALTER  OR  ABOL- 
ISH IT  IN  SUCH  MANNER  AS  SHALL  BE  JUDGED 
MOST  CONDUCIVE  TO  THE  PUBLIC  WEAL." 

Proof  and  argument  might  be  extended  without  end,  to 
show  the  condition  we  are  in,  and  the  worse  condition 
toward  which  we  are  tending.  But  it  would  be  super- 
fluous. At  this  time  the  people,  fully  alive  to  the  situa- 
tion, need  no  argument  or  evidence  to  convince  them  of 
the  straits  we  have  reached.  The  present  social  order  is 
reared  over  a  mine  that  is  liable  to  explode  at  any  time. 
Things  are  growing  worse  from  day  to  day.  And  there 
seems  to  be  no  organized  or  intelligent  effort  made  to 
remedy  or  to  alleviate  the  coming  storm.  The  question 
is  not  discussed  or  mentioned  at  the  schools  and  colleges. 


FINIS.  353 

In  fact,  as  has  been  shown,  the  subject  is  studiously  avoid- 
ed. The  church  seems  to  think  that  the  proper  attitude  is 
that  of  silence  or  neutrality.  Indeed,  many  churches 
openly  side  with  Plutocracy. 

Will  education  suddenly  be  directed  to  this  subject,  and 
a  happy  escape  discovered?  Will  the  church  suddenly 
lay  hold  of  the  question  and  point  out  the  wrongs  and 
take  the  part  of  the  oppressed  ?  Will  the  people  suddenly 
know  how  to  think  and  legislate  clearly  and  in  some  way 
bring  harmony  out  of  all  this  chaos  ?  Never!  The  history 
of  sociology  proves  that  great  evils  are  never  prevented. 
Though  the  remedy  were  the  simplest,  the  people  always 
permit  calamity  to  swoop  down  upon  them,  causing  wreck 
and  ruin  instead  of  taking  measures  of  prevention  in 
time.  'Tis  true,  society  always  rebuilds  and  recuperates, 
but  it  never  prevents. 

The  following  is  part  of  an  interview  with  Senator  Vest 
in  the  St.  Louis  Republic,  October  15,  1902: 

"All  the  facts  now  so  well  and  so  freely  commented  upon 
by  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  been  before  them 
for  years.  Every  intelligent  man  has  known  that  the  rail- 
roads and  collieries  were  under  the  same  control.  This 
has  been  the  case  in  regard  to  the  meat  product,  which  has 
been  absolutely  in  the  hands  of  the  Chicago  packers  since 
1883.  The  trouble  is  that  until  the  matter  comes  person- 
ally to  each  citizen  there  is  general  indifference  on  the  sub- 

(23) 


354  FINIS. 

ject,  and  the  cry  of  'let  well  enough  alone'  allays  the  ap- 
prehensions of  everybody. 

********* 

"I  spent  the  whole  summer  of  1891  investigating  the 
meat  trust  at  Chicago,  and  made  a  report  of  more  than 
GOO  pages,  giving  the  unquestionable  proof  that  the  trust 
existed,  and  that  it  controlled  the  price  paid  for  beef  cattle 
and  the  price  paid  by  the  consumer  for  meat.  The  com- 
mittee of  which  I  was  chairman  reported  five  bills,  and  but 
one  of  them  passed  the  Senate.  It  was  never  even  con- 
sidered by  the  House.  The  other  four  bills  died  in  the 
Senate,  as  the  trust  was"  strong  enough  to  prevent  their 

consideration. 

********* 

"The  statesman  who  can  originate  some  legislation 
which  will  compromise  justly  the  present  antagonism  be- 
tween labor  and  capital  will  live  in  history  as  the  greatest 
benefactor  of  our  country." 

I  take  the  position  that  things  are  ripe  for  a  revolution, 
and  that  nothing  short  of  divine  power  can  prevent  it.  Evi- 
dence from  every  source  goes  to  prove  that  the  ground  is 
well  taken. 

What  then  will  precipitate  it?    What  will  be  the  last 
straw  ? 
-  The  first  real  panic ! ! 

The  spark  that  will  touch  off  the  powder  magazine  will 
be  a  panic!! 

If,  then,  everything  is  ripe  for  a  revolution,  and  the 


FINIS.  355 

revolution  will  be  precipitated  by  a  panic,  we  can  de- 
termine the  date  of  the  revolution  by  ascertaining  the 
date  of  this  panic. 

I  propose  to  fix  the  time  when  the  next  panic  will  break 
upon  us! 

Some  have  argued  that  panics  recur  at  regular  intervals 
of  either  ten,  twelve  or  fifteen  years.  This  is  foolish.  Time 
is  not  the  important  element  and  cuts  but  little  figure.  All 
of  the  panics  of  the  past  have  come  at  irregular  intervals. 
My  deductions  have  not  been  made  after  this  fashion. 

But  there  are  two  unfailing  factors  that  determine  the 
advent  of  the  panic.  I  have  pointed  out  these  two  agents 
clearly.  The  one  is  over-production  or  under-consump- 
tion.  As  shown,  when  this  conditions  prevails  a  panic  is 
inevitable. 

The  other  is  the  breaking  of  speculative  and  inflated 
values  of  stocks  and  bonds.  When  the  stock  market  be- 
comes abnormally  weak,  when  speculators  are  caught  and 
money  becomes  scarce,  a  financial  panic  results.  If  it  is 
severe,  business  is  dull  and-  listless ;  nobody  wishes  to  buy 
the  product  on  the  market,  and  over-production  is  at  hand, 
which  is  shortly  followed  by  an  industrial  panic.  But  the 
question  will  be  asked:  "Who  can  predict  when  the  mar- 
ket will  be  glutted  and  when  crashing  speculative  values 
will  precipitate  a  financial  panic  ?" 

In  answer  to  this  I  say  that  both  these  conditions  are 
about  FULFILLED  NOW.  First,  we  will  consider  the 
financial  market  and  Wall  Street  at  present. 


356  FINIS. 

That  there  has  been  a  great  scare  this  fall  none  will 
deny.  It  is  true  the  papers  tried  to  allay  the  fears  of  the 
public  and  also  suppressed  most  of  the  news.  Neverthe- 
less it  is  well  known  that  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to 
bolster  up  the  market  and  ward  off  a  financial  crash. 

Russell  Sage,  the  veteran  financier,  early  in  the  sum- 
mer announced  his  opinion  that  money  was  going  to  be- 
come panicky.  His  prediction  came  true  in  the  fall.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  been  selling  his  holdings  at  enor- 
mous profits.  The  St.  Louis  Republic  orinted  the  follow- 
ing: 

"RUSSELL    SAGE    WARNS    AGAINST    MORGAN'S 

PLANS. 


'Ultimately,  He  Says,  They  Will  Result  in  Terrible  Panic 
and  People  Will  No  Longer  Tolerate  Them. 


"DANGER  IS  NOT  IMAGINARY. 


"Republic  Special. 

"New  York,  Aug.  21.— Russell  Sage,  perhaps  the  great- 
est individual  capitalist  in  the  country,  his  wealth  being 
estimated  at  $100,000,000,  in  a  statement  to-day  takes  di- 
rect issue  with  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  regarding  gigantic 
combinations  and  the  consolidation  of  great  industries. 

"To  Mr.  G.  A.  Parkin,  a  fellow-passenger  on  the 
Oceanic,  Mr.  Morgan  said  during  his  trip  from  Europe  that 
the  era  of  combination  has  just  begun,  and  that  he  has 


FINIS.  357 

other  vaster  schemes  which  are  to  dwarf  the  billion-dollar 
Street  Trust  and  the  shipping  combine. 

"It  is  this  announcement  by  Mr.  Morgan  that  leads 
Russell  Sage  to  sound  a  note  of  warning.  The  veteran 
financier  declares  that  such  giant  combinations  are  a 
menace;  that  they  will  inevitably  result  in  one  of  the 
greatest  financial  panics  this  country  has  ever  experienced, 
and  that  ultimately  the  American  people  will  no  longer 
tolerate  them. 

"  'Combinations  of  all  great  industries  are  a  menace  to 
the  government/  declares  Mr.  Sage.  'Such  combinations 
are  not  only  a  menace,  but  are  the  oppressors  of  the  peo- 
ple. 

"'FINANCIAL    RUIN     SUCH     AS     WAS     NEVER 

DREAMED  OF. 

"  'Should  an  era  of  combinations  ensue,  the  American 
people  will  certainly  revolt  against  them  and,  if  they  do, 
there  will  be  financial  ruin  such  as  people  have  never 
dreamed  of  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

"  'The  American  people  will  most  certainly  revolt  at  no 
very  distant  time  against  the  enormous  combinations  of 
the  various  industries.  If  continued,  the  combinations 
will  some  day  result  in  financial  ruin,  not  only  to  those 
interested,  but  to  the  country. 

"  'The  success  attending  the  combination  of  some  in- 
dustries has  led  to  the  belief  that  the  same  success  will 
mark  the  organization  of  other  great  combinations.    This 


358  FTXIS. 

will  not  prove  true,  and  before  many  years  every  one  wiii 
realize  it.' 

"Mr.  Parkin,  who  is  president  of  the  Toronto  Uni- 
versity, was  astonished  by  the  vastness  of  Mr.  Morgan's 
economic  plans,  as  revealed  by  him  on  the  trip.    He  said: 

"  'Mr.  Morgan's  word  picture  of  the  ideal  industrial  de- 
velopment is  so  vast  that  I  confess  I  could  not  adequately 
comprehend  it.  Combination  is  the  keynote  of  his  idea. 
He  declares  that  the  idea  of  combination  will  progress, 
growing  wider  and  greater  all  the  time.  The  Steamship 
Trust  he  used  as  an  illustration,  saying  the  present  plan 
was  only  the  beginning  of  an  ultimately  vast  combination 
of  shipping  interests.  His  idea  is  so  great  that  it  com- 
pletely enthralled  me,  and  I  asked  permission  to  visit  him 
at  his  office  and  hear  him  more  fully  develop  his  idea  for 
me.' " 

Russell  Sage  expresses  his  opinion  in  another  maga- 
zine. 

The  first  contributor  to  a  notable  symposium  in  the  May 
North  American  Review  on  Industrial  and  Railroad  Con- 
solidations is  Russell  Sage.  Mr.  Sage  illustrated  one 
feature  of  industrial  combination  by  taking  an  imaginary 
factory  worth,  say,  $50,000.  This  factory  falls  into  the 
hands  of  eonsolidators,  who  issue  $150,000  of  stock  against 
it,  and  ask  banks  to  loan  $60,000  or  $70,000  on  the  prop- 
erty that  would  not  in  the  hands  of  the  original  owner  be 
considered  good  security  for  more  than  $10,000.  "Under 
these  circumstances,  a  'squeeze'  seems  to  be  inevitable. 


FINIS.  359 

The  clearing  house  is  reporting,  from  week  to  week,  an 
expansion  of  loans  far  beyond  anything  that  was  dreamed 
of  heretofore.  THIS  CAN  NOT  GO  .ON  FOREVER; 
yet,  from  all  appearances,  the  era  of  consolidation  has  only 
set  in.  A  REACTION  MUST  COME  as  soon  as  the  banks 
realize  the  situation.  A  property  is  not  worth  $50,000  one 
day  and  $150,000  the  next  simply  because  a  company  of 
men,  no  matter  how  big  and  important  they  are,  say  so." 
— Public  Opinion. 

Now  then,  if  all  the  conditions  necessary  for  a  money 
panic  prevail,  why  does  it  not  break  upon  the  country  at 
once? 

Because  Pierpont  Morgan,  Rockefeller,  Mr.  Shaw,  Wall 
Street  and  the  Republican  Party  desire  most  earnestly  to 
avoid  it  if  possible.  They  do  all  in  their  power  to  suppress 
the  pent-up  volcano.  And  they  have  succeeded  temporar- 
ily.   Commenting  on  this,  Appeal  to  Reason  says : 

"The  banks  run  short  of  money  recently  and  the  banker 
who  heads  the  United  States  treasury  rushes  to  their  as- 
sistance with  the  people's  money  and  loans  to  them  with- 
out interest,  millions.  When  the  people,  to  whom  this 
belongs,  need  money,  do  they  get  it  from  their  dear,  sweet 
government?  Not  on  your  penny.  They  can  go  to  the 
banks  and  borrow  their  own  money  and  pay  well  for  it. 
But  the  bankers  understand  the  art  of  voting  for  their  in- 
terest, while  the  masses  have  no  such  understanding. 
When  the  rich  need  help  they  get  it ;  when  the  poor  need 
help  they  get  it — in  the  neck.    What  an  odd  arrangement. 


360  FINIS. 

And  the  people  go  blundering  along  and  never  see  a 
thing." 

Now,  the  question  comes,  "How  long  can  the  money 
barons  stave  off  a  financial  panic  ?" 

Not  forever!  Because  the  inflation  keeps  right  on. 
Stocks  are  watered  and  paper  and  artificial  values  issued 
against  enterprises  more  and  more  every  day. 

But  they  will  prevent  a  financial  panic  taking  place  be- 
fore the  presidential  election  of  1904. 

If  they  did  not  their  party  would  be  defeated.  It  is  nec- 
essary for  them  to  keep  down  the  panic  until  then.  They 
must,  and  will,  have  their  party  placed  in  power  in  1904. 

After  the  election  they  will  not  be  able  to  stave  off  the 
evil  day  for  more  than  one  year,  no  matter  how  hard  they 
try  and  in  spite  of  everything  they  resort  to.  The  year 
1905  will  thus  be  bolstered  up  and  made  artificially  pros- 
perous. 

The  year  1906  will  bring  the  greatest  financial  panic  the 
country  has  witnessed.    It  will  be  worse  than  that  of  1893. 

By  this  time  there  will  be  over-production.  The  evils 
of  over-production  have  been  fully  discussed,  and  the  little 
hepe  there  was  of  escaping  it.  It  becomes  plainly  ap- 
parent, then,  for  these  two  reasons  alone  that  a  panic  at 
this  time  will  be  intensely  severe.  Great  over-production 
and  highly  inflated  values  which  have  been  kept  that  way 
and  bolstered  artificially  will  be  too  much  even  for  the 
money  barons  and  all  Wall  Street. 


FINIS.  363 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  suppose  the  Democratic  Party 
should  win  the  election  of  1904. 

As  the  same  causes  for  a  panic  would  prevail,  no  matter 
who  won,  a  panic  would  be  inevitable  in  such  a  case  also. 
And  further,  as  the  trust  barons  and  monopolists  would 
be  afraid  of  tariff  tinkering,  Wall  Street  would  begin  to 
draw  in  all  of  the  money  it  possibly  could.  They  would 
be  scared  and  uncertain;  the  withdrawal  of  the  small 
amount  of  currency  that  we  have  from  the  channels  of 
business  would  only  hasten  the  crisis.  In  fact,  it  is  well 
known  that  the  volume  of  currency  is  far  below  necessary 
requirements,  and  that  at  the  slightest  scare  it  is  with- 
drawn by  the  money  lenders  from  legitimate  enterprises. 
Fifty  capitalists  in  Wall  Street  could  precipitate  a  panic  at 
any  time. 

So,  should  the  Democratic  Party  win  in  1904,  with"  ever 
so  good  a  man  as  President,  and  ever  so  good  a  platform, 
we  will  have  a  panic  in  1905  and  the  Revolution  in  1906. 
But  the  Democratic  Party  will  never  win!  Plutocracy 
will  see  that  the  Republican  Party  does,  and  after  it  is  in 
power  will  do  everything  it  can  to  bolster  it  up. 

The  panic  of  1906  is  all  that  is  needed  to  cause  the  ex- 
plosion. The  explosive  has  been  prepared.  Dumped  into 
the  national  mortar  are  mortgaged  farmers,  and  the  unem- 
ployed. Heaped  upon  them  are  pauperism  and  child  labor. 
Added  to  their  misery  are  strikes,  lockouts,  the  injunc- 
tion, machinery,  panics,  corruption,  bribery,  class  legisla- 
tion.    This  mass  of  misery  is  aggravated  by  the  strong 


mil  FINIS. 

arm  ot  oppression;  the  militia,  Pinkcrton  detectives,  fed- 
eral troops  and  plutocracy. 

I  repeat  that  it  only  requires  a  strong  agency  like  a 
panic  to  bring  a  revolution  that  will  be  terrible  in  its  ef- 
fect. 

Strikes  of  great  magnitude  will  precede  the  cataclysm. 
Two  classes  will  oppose  each  other.  On  one  side  the  strik- 
ing working  classes,  supported  by  the  vast  farming  popula- 
tion, and  a  murmuring,  discontented  poor,  unemployed, 
wretched  and  desperate;  and  on  the  other  side,  an  arro- 
gant rich,  backed  by  a  corrupt  government,  the  army, 
militia  and  police.  The  former  will  have  the  advantage 
o.<:  numbers,  but  the  latter  will  have  on  its  side  the  wealth, 
law  and  army  of  the  land. 

Then  the  foolish  attempt  to  settle  an  economic  prob- 
lem by  force  will  once  more  be  made.  Eeason,  by  which 
alone  it  might  be  settled,  will  be  set  aside.  When  we  look 
back  at  the  Civil  War,  the  stupidity  of  resorting  to  force 
instead  of  reason  to  settle  a  question  i^  plain  enough.  All 
of  those  lives,  all  of  the  misery  and  pain,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  vast  treasure,  might  have  been  saved  had  the  coun- 
try resorted  to  reason.  But  they  didn't,  and  won't  in  the 
impending  revolution.  As  has  been  said  before,  sociology 
teaches  that  no  great  social  cataclysm  is  ever  prevented  by 
the  people  coming  together  and  reasoning.  Perhaps  in  the 
dim  future  such  may  happen.  To-day  we  only  think  to- 
gether when  mending  and  curing,  and  after  it  is  too  late. 
Then  we  unite  and  patch  up. 


FINIS.  367 

Great  and  numerous  riots  will  follow  the  many  strikes, 
and  force  will  be  used  to  keep  them  down.  Bread  riots 
have  been  common  in  the  past,  but  meat  riots  are  some- 
thing new.  Many  people  were  killed  in  New  York  recently 
in  these  latter.  It  shows  how  easily  the  people  will  resort 
to  violence  when  goaded  on  to  it.  It  also  affords  a  fore- 
cast of  what  will  happen  when  the  great  panic  and  revo- 
lution comes.  The  granaries  and  storehouses  will  be  filled 
to  bursting  with  grain,  cereals  and  food.  The  warehouses 
will  be  filled  with  dry  goods,  clothing  and  all  kinds  of 
supplies.  But  millions  will  be  hungry,  ragged  and  wretch- 
ed. In  this  condition,  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  they  will 
not  quietly,  meekly  and  submissively  reflect,  but  will  riot 
at  once.  The  absurdity  of  the  situation  will  only  goad 
them  to  frenzy.  They  will  see  one  thing.  We  have  raised 
and  produced  too  much  food,  and  millions  of  us  are 
hungry.  We  have  produced  too  much  clothing,  and  the 
majority  of  us  are  ragged.  We  have  built  too  many  houses, 
so  countless  throngs  of  us  are  crowded  into  tenement 
houses  like  cattle,  while  others  are  homeless.  Over-pro- 
duction, over-production,  over-production  of  everything. 
Too  much,  and  yet  we  go  without.  Frenzy,  madness  and 
rioting  will  be  their  answer — bloodshed  their  only  satis- 
faction. 

The  hungry,  the  wretched,  the  unemployed;  the  strik- 
ers, paupers  and  fanatics  will  be  the  most  aggressive  and 
will  bear  the  brunt  of  the  battle. 

The  other  side,  having  a  trained  army  and  the  latest  de- 


368  FINIS. 

vices  of  warfare,  will  clash  with  them,  and  once  more  the 
free  soil  of  America  will  flow  with  precious  blood. 

Let  none,  then,  be  deceived  by  two  or  three  years  of 
prosperity  between  now  and  1906.  Plutocracy  must  by  all 
means  prevent  a  money  panic  between  now  and  election 
time.  They  may  possibly  extend  it  a  year  beyond  that 
time.  While  they  may  do  this  much,  they  cannot  by  any 
means  ward  off  an  over-production  panic!  That  is  an  ill 
that  goes  through  the  whole  social  system,  from  top  to 
bottom. 

The  evidence  of  an  over-production  panic  does  not  ap- 
pear as  plainly  just  yet  as  do  the  financial  disturbances. 

But  this  is  coming  and  cannot  be  avoided,  as  has  been 
clearly  shown.  Because,  simply,  the  consumers  are  not 
paid  enough  to  buy  back  the  product  and  the  foreign  mar- 
kets are  about  gone,  leaving  no  outlet  for  the  over-pro- 
duction. 

No  human  power  can  prevent  an  over-production  panic ! 

To  give  an  idea  of  what  the  revolution  will  be  like  we 
quote  various  able  articles  and  the  views  of  some  of  the 
world's  best  thinkers  on  the  subject.  Prof.  Fisher,  of  Yale 
College,  in  his  Universal  History,  page  497,  says: 

"First  among  the  causes  of  the  revolution  in  France  was 
the  hostility  felt  toward  the  privileged  classes — the  king, 
the  nobles  and  the  clergy — on  account  of  the  disabilities 
and  burdens  which  law  and  custom  imposed  on  the  classes 
beneath  them. 

"The  Land. — Nearly  two-thirds  of  the  land  in  France 


FINIS.  369 

was  in  the  hands  of  the  nobles  and  of  the  clergy.  A  great 
part  of  it  was  illy  cultivated  by  its  indolent  owners.  The 
nobles  preferred  the  gayeties  of  Paris  to  a  residence  on 
their  estates.  There  were  many  small  land-owners,  but 
they  had  individually  too  little  land  to  furnish  them  with 
subsistence.  The  treatment  of  the  peasant  was  often 
such  that  when  he  looked  upon  the  towers  of  his  lord's 
castle,  the  dearest  wish  of  his  heart  was  to  burn  it  down 
with  all  its  registers  of  debts  (mortgages).  The  clergy 
held  an  immense  amount  of  land,  seigniorial  control  over 
thousands  of  peasants,  and  a  vast  income  from  tithes  and 
other  sources.  In  some  provinces  there  was  a  better  state 
of  things  than  in  others ;  but  in  general,  the  rich  had  the 
enjoyments,  the  poor  carried  the  burdens. 

"Monopolies. — Manufacturers  and  trades,  although  en- 
couraged, were  fettered  by  oppressive  monopolies  and  a 
strict  organization  of  guilds. 

"Corrupt  Government. — The  administration  of  govern- 
ment was  both  arbitrary  and  corrupt. 

"Loss  of  Eespect  for  Eoyalty. — Respect  for  the  throne 
was  lost. 

"Abortive  Essays  at  Reform. — The  efforts  at  political 
and  social  reform  in  France  and  other  countries,  eman- 
ating from  sovereigns  after  the  great  wars,  produced  a 
restless  feeling  without  affecting  their  purpose  of  social 
reorganization. 

"Political  Speculation. — The  current  of  thought  was  in 

a  revolutionary  direction.    Traditional  beliefs  in  religion 
r24v> 


:;;<»  I  IMS. 

«rere  boldly  questioned.  Political  speculation  was  rife. 
Montesquieu  had  drawn  attention  to  the  liberty  secured 
by  the  English  constitution.  Voltaire  had  dwelt  on  hu- 
man rights.  Rosseaa  had  expatiated  on  the  sovereign 
right  of  the  majority. 

"Example  of  America.— Add  to  tie  nciee  the  in- 

fluence of  the  American  Revolution,  and  of  the  American 
Declaration  of  Independence,  with  its  proclamation  of 
human  rights,  and  of  the  foundation  of  government  in 
contract  and  the  consent  of  the  people." 

In  all  those  leading  causes  which  culminated  in  the  ter- 
rors of  the  French  Revolution  we  Bee  a  strong  resemblan 
to  similar  conditions  to-day  which  are  rapidly  and  surely 
leading  to  the  foretold  similar  result-. 

A  thoughtful  writer  recently  said: 

"In  France  before  the  great  revolution  the  condition  of 
the  peasants  was,  in  most  districts,  miserable  in  the  ex- 
treme. Exactions  of  all  sorts  which  went  to  feed  the 
luxury  of  the  court  at  Versailles  left  them  with  barely  the 
means  to  sustain  existence.  They  were  impoverished  to 
the  level  of  brutes,  and  were  not  even  well  fed  and  well 
housed  animals.  Writing  under  these  conditions  a  great 
French  statesman  denounced  the  economic  system  which 
took  from  a  thousand  men  the  necessaries  of  true  human 
life  to  feed  the  immoral  extravagance  of  one  courtier.  A 
thousand  men,  he  said,  were  debased  by  poverty  in  order 
that  one  man  might  be  corrupted  by  wealth  too  great  for 
his  virtue.    This  description  of  the  condition  of  the  peo- 


FINIS.  371 

pie  of  France  yesterday  may  be  accepted  as  a  fair  por- 
traiture of  the  condition  of  the  people  in  many  nations 
to-day.  Will  history  repeat  itself,  or  will  a  higher  civi- 
lization influence  a  peaceful,  rather  than  a  bloody  revolu- 
tion?" 

One  of  Charles  Dickens'  stories,  the  scene  of  which  is 
laid  in  the  troublous  times  of  the  French  Revolution,  be- 
gins thus,  and  aptly  fits  the  present  time,  as  he  suggests: 

"It  was  the  best  of  times,  it  was  the  worst  of  times;  it 
was  the  age  of  wisdom,  it  was  the  age  of  foolishness;  it- 
was  the  epoch  of  belief,  it  was  the  epoch  of  incredulity; 
ifc  was  the  season  of  light,  it  was  the  season  of  darkness; 
it  was  the  spring  of  hope,  it  was  the  winter  of  despair;  we 
had  everything  before  us,  we  had  nothing  before  us;  we 
were  all  going  direct  to  heaven,  we  were  all  going  direct 
the  other  way; — in  short,  the  period  was  so  far  like  the 
present  period  that  some  of  its  noisiest  authorities  in- 
sisted on  its  being  received  for  good  or  for  evil,  in  the 
superlative  degree  of  comparison  only." 

MACAULAY'S  PREDICTION". 

The  Paris  Figaro  quotes  the  following  extracts  of  a  let- 
ter written  in  1857  by  Mr.  Macaulay,  the  great  English 
historian,  to  a  friend  in  the  United  States : 

"It  is  clear  as  daylight  that  your  government  will  never 
be  able  to  hold  under  control  a  suffering  and  angry  ma- 
jority, because  in  your  country  the  government  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  masses,  and  the  rich,  who  are  in  the  minority. 
are  absolutely  at  their  mercv.     A  clay  will  come  in  the 


:;;■.'  FINIS. 

state  of  New  York  when  the  multitude,  between  half  a 
breakfast  and  the  hope  of  half  a  dinner,  will  elect  your 
legislators.  Is  it  possible  to  have  any  doubt  as  to  the  kind 
of  legislators  that  will  be  elected? 

"You  will  be  obliged  to  do  those  things  which  render 
prosperity  impossible.     Then  some  Caesar  or  Napoleon 
will  take  the  reins  of  government  in  hand.    Yrour  Republic 
will  bo  pillaged  and  ravaged  in  the  twentieth  century,  jusl 
as  the  Roman  Empire  was  by  the  barbarians  of  the  fifth 
century,  with  this  difference,  that  the  devastators  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  the  Huns  and  Vandals,  came  from  abroad, 
while  your  barbarians  will  be  the  natives  of  your  own 
country,  and  the  product  of  your  own  institutions." 
In  1858  the  same  great  historian  said: 
"The  time  will     come     when     New     England  will  be 
as  thickly  peopled  as  old  England.     Wages  will  fluctuate 
as  much  with  you  as  with  us.    Y^ou  will  have  your  Man- 
chester? and  your  Birminghams,  and  in  those  cities  thou- 
sans  of  artisans  will  sometimes  be  out  of  work.    Then  your 
institutions  will  be  fairly  brought  to  the  test.     *  *  *     It 
is  quite  evident  that  your  government  will  never  be  able  to 
restrain  a  distressed  and  discontented  majority.    For  in  a 
republic  the  majority  is  the  government,  and  has  the  rich, 
who  are  a  small  minority,  absolutely  at  its  mercy.'* 

More  recent,  and  more  pointed,  are  the  almost  prophetic 
words  of  our  martyr  president,  Abraham  Lincoln,  written 
shortly  before  his  assassination,  to  a  friend  in  Illinois.  He 
wrote : 


FINIS.  373 

"Yes,  we  may  all  congratulate  ourselves  that  this  cruel 
war  is  nearing  its  close.  It  has  cost  a  vast  amount  of 
treasure  and  blood.  The  best  blood  of  the  flower  of 
American  youth  has  been  freely  offered  upon  our  country's 
altar  that  the  nation  might  live.  It  has  been  a  trying 
hour  indeed  for  the  Republic.  But  I  see  in  the  near 
future  a  crisis  approaching  t*hat  unnerves  me  and  causes 
me  to  tremble  for  the  safety  of  my  country.  As  a  result 
of  the  war,  corporations  have  been  enthroned,  an  era  of 
corruption  in  high  places  will  follow,  and  the  money-power 
of  the  country  will  endeavor  to  prolong  its.  reign  by  work- 
ing upon  the  prejudices  of  the  people  until  all  the  wealth 
is  aggregated  in  a  few  hands,  and  the  Republic  is  de- 
stroyed. I  feel  at  this  moment  more  anxiety  for  the  safety 
of  my  country  than  ever  before,  even  in  the  midst  of  war.'' 

To  us  at  this  late  day  these  words  show  a  marvelous 
foresight.  But  a  few  more  years  are  required  to  make  them 
immortal. 

"No  structure  of  government/'  said  Lincoln,  "can  en- 
dure unless  founded  upon  justice.  There  must  be  one 
law  for  all,  and  equality  under  that  law.  The  slave  power 
must  not  be  resurrected  in  a  more  oppressive  and  tyranniz- 
ing money  power." 

Words  of  wonderful  truth  that  are  coming  home  to  us. 
But  they  will  be  of  no  service  to  us  as  a  warning.  We 
merely  marvel  at  them,  and  praise  their  wisdom,  but  do 
nothing  further.  We  are  not  guided  by  them  in  the  least. 
A  people  never  prevent,  they     only     repair     social  and 


:;;i  FINIS 

momic  evils.    After  the  diasterjre  will  <  of 

Lincoln  and  engrave  platei  with  hii  propheti  ind 

call  liim  a  greal  prophet.    "What  fooli  theee  mortal 
Why  aol  heed  the  irordi  now,  while  it  i ~  t  \n  our 

of  prevention  i-  worth  a  pound  <>f  <  ur<-. 

Representative  Hat.li  <>f  v.        ;,i,  in 

■  in  financial  ami  -<>rial  matters,  i-  reported  in  I 
public  press  t"  I  ■! : 

-Mark  what   I         '     It   tin-  inexorable  law  "f  and 

effecl  has  nol  been  expunged  from  the  -tatutr  l><><>k  <»f  tl 
Almighty,  unless  a  halt  i<  called  verj  you  m 

t.>  Bee  the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution  put  on  the 
American  Btage  with  all  the  modern  improvements,  an<l 
that  within   the  next  decad  r  am   I   alone.     T: 

gentleman,  Astor,  who  wenl  to  me  time  ago, 

bought  him  a  ;  >n  the  island  ami  hi  a  British 

Bubject,  -aw  what  i-  coming  a-  plainly  as  I  <lo,  so  he  took 
time  by  the  Forelock  ami  Bkipped  out  when  there,  was  i 
such  a  rush  for  staterooms  as  there  will  be  after  a  while. 
He  knew  very  well  that  if  things  would  keep  on  as  you  and 
I  have  seen  them  for  some  time  past,  the  time  was  not  far 
off  when  there  would  lie  Buch  a  crowd  of  hi-  class  of  people 
hurrying  aboard  every  outgoing  steamer  he  might  be 
sluned  off  the  gangplank. " 

Here  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  Senator 
Ingalls  in  the  United  States  Senate: 

"We  eannot  disguise  the  truth  that  we  are  on  the  verge 
of  an  impending  revolution.     Old  issues  are  dead.     The 


FINIS.  375 

people  arc  arraying  themselves  on  one  side  or  the  other 
of  a  portentous  contest.  On  one  side  is  capital,  formidably 
intrenched  in  privilege,  arrogant  from  continued  triumph, 
conservative,  tenacious  of  old  theories,  demanding  new 
concessions,  enriched  by  domestic  levy  and  foreign  com- 
merce, and  struggling  to  adjust  all  values  to  its  own  gold 
standard.    On  the  other  side  is  labor  asking  for  employ  - 
ment,  .striving  to  develop  domestic  industries,  battling 
with  the  forces  of  nature  and  subduing  the  wilderness. 
Labor,  starving  and  sullen  in  the  cities,  resolutely  de- 
termined to  overthrow  a  system  under  which  the  rich  are 
growing  richer  and  the  poor  are  growing  poorer — a  sys- 
tem which  gives  to  a  Vanderbilt  and  a  Gould  wealth  be- 
yond the  dreams  of  avarice,  and  condemns  the  poor  to 
poverty  from  which  there  is  no  escape  or  refuge  but  the 
grave.    Demands  for  justice  have  been  met  with  indiffer- 
ence and  disdain.    The  laborers  of  the  country,  asking  for 
employment,  are  treated  like  impudent  mendicants  beg- 
ging for  bread." 

Let  us  not  lull  ourselves  to  sleep  in  fancied  security,  or, 
like  the  ostrich  of  the  deserts,  hide  our  head  in  the  sand, 
thinking  that  because  we  refuse  to  see  the  facts,  there  is 
no  danger.    How  unwise  and  foolish! 

Why  not  admit  there  is  danger,  and  face  it  like  men? 
Why  not  meet  it  with  all  the  wisdom,  science  and 
Christianity  we  possess?    Why  be  taken  unawares? 

What,  then,  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  true  American 
citizen  ? 


:;;.;  FINIS. 

First  of  all,  recognition  of  the  fact  thai  Bocial  and  in- 
dustrial  evolution  is  taking  place,  according  to  certain 
immutable  laws. 

Then,  a  careful  and  ardent  study,  in  a  scientific  way.  of 
this  evolution.    Lei  the  investigation  be  thoughtful,  calm, 
unbiased  and  unprejudiced,  avoiding  hatred  and  pase 
and  cultivating  instead  a  true  philosophical  spirit. 

Do  not   blame   individuals.     Remember  that   the  b 
and  worst  of  us  are  generally  the  result  of  our  environ- 
ment-.    All  of  us  to-day  are  the  product  of  present  con- 
ditions. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  90  per  cenl  of  the  people  to-day 
are  entirely  ignorant   of  th  of  social,  industrial 

and  political  economy.  Our  danger  lie-  in  this  ignorance. 
It  must  be  dispelled  or  confusion  and  inefficiency  will 
continue  to  hold  sway.  If  the  people  are  to  rule  they  must 
do  so  understandingly.  The  evolution  must  he  guided  by 
honest  and  skillful  hands.  A  tumultuous  mass  will  spoil 
and  upset  everything. 

The  extent,  of  the  cataclysm  may  he  determined  by  the 
ignorance  of  the  people.  The  danger  will  be  diminished 
as  our  knowledge  along  economic  lines  increases. 

Let  us  use  the  ballot  intelligently,  insisting  that  the 
measures  we  vote  for  meet  the  live  questions  of  the  day. 
Let  us  not  be  afraid  to  cast  aside  those  that  are  old  and 
dead  and  have  no  possible  bearing  on  the  issues  we  must 
face  now. 


FINIS.  377 

Let  us  not  be  blindly  partisan,  voting  as  we  are  tolcL 
o\*  voting  as  our  ancestors  did  before  us. 

Let  us  not  think  of  the  government  as  a  far-away,  ab- 
stract power;  but  let  us  remember  that  the  People  are 
the  Government  and  the  Government  the  People.  The 
two  are  identical. 

Popular  government  is  to  be  put  to  an  awful  test.  It 
is  the  duty  of  each  individual,  regardless  of  what  anyone 
else  may  do,  to  use  his  intellect,  and  in  the  trying  hour 
show  to  the  world  that  the  American  people  are  the  most 
enlightened,  progressive  and  God-fearing  people  the  world 
has  ever  known. 

[The  End.] 


MENSING   &    ZIMMERMAN, 
Linotype    Printers    and   Publishers. 


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